#anyway go read missy the master plan

[thetorturedlovergirl]

I STILL CANT BELIEVE IT WAS DECIDED THIS SCENE SHOULD BE IN THE MISSY COMIC LMAO CRAZY TO HAVE IT AS A COMIC

not like I’m complaining…

[rainbow--panic]

I write a lot of rdr2 myself, but I don't have many people who write for me!

I'd love to see someone elses take on Arthur with a chubbier woman who also happens to be a virgin, i am a slut for him in all directions and I'd love to see someone elses writing for him!!!

If you don't get to it don't worry about it!! But i figured I'd ask if you're taking rdr2!!

Dun du du daaaaaaaaa

and just like that your request is severed, hot ans spicy for ya

hope you enjoy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pairing:Arthur Morgan x Chubby!Virgin!Reader

Warnings:NSFW, Bit of self body hate, Being r@wdogged by a cowboy

Only lightly proof read this as I am very tired and want to nap

MINORS DNI

It was the middle of the afternoon and you and Arthur were planning on heading into Rhodes to get some supplies from the general store. You had gotten a list from Pearson of everything you needed, plus a small list of some other essentials needed around camp from Hosea and Dutch. You had changed into the one nice dress you had, which was reserved for days going into town, much like this one, and special events outside of camp. As you walked out of your tent you quickly locked eyes with Arthur. It hadn't been long but he was waiting for you and put his arm out for you to wrap your arms around as the two of you made your way to the wagon.

Arthur helped you up and then got up himself, taking the reins and riding out of camp. You held onto his right arm loosely as you laid on him, enjoying his company.

"So how have you been, dear? I know we haven't had a chance to be together lately with Dutch havin me run around like a chicken with its head cut off" Arthur said with a grin. You smiled at him, Arthur always......had a way with words, I guess you could say.

"Oh I've been alright, just dealing with Ms.Grimshaw bossin me around as if I'm just a no good lil hussie" Arthur chuckled. "Well ain't ya?" he jokingly asked, you playfully smacked his arm.

"Only for you Arthur" You said as you kissed his cheek.

Though he may have never admitted it to you, he loved leaving camp to be with you. It's not that he didn't want to tell you or never actually wanted to admit he loved you, it was more that he couldn't bring the right words together to say it. He loved the gang, he would gladly die for the gang, he knew you of all people were loyal to the gang, but if he had the chance to go live with you someplace beautiful where no one could ever find yall, he would. When you joined the gang it was no different then when Karen, Mary Beth, or Tilly joined. But with the way you were, how hard you worked in all the different camps, and the way you seemed to light up a room, it brought a strange feeling to Arthur, one he hadn't felt in a long time, back when he was younger and with another woman who he knew could never truly love him enough to stay by his side.

"You know, I am so glad Micha is gone" A smile was plastered across your face. "For now, anyways" Arthur added. It's been a little while since Arthur had busted him out of prison and now he's still hiding out somewhere behind Strawberry. You looked at Arthur and frowned. "Ain't there a way we could get Dutch to kick him out of the gang? I know I ain't of power to make requests like that but-" You trailed off, looking at the road ahead.

Safe to say Micha didn't get along with anyone in camp, especially you. Micha was the type of man who liked women to be, as he said, 'woman shaped not boar shaped' to which he immediately got an ass whoopin by Charles on Arthur's behalf as Arthur was out that night robbing a train. Arthur nudged you and smiled. "When I get the chance to, I'll shoot 'em for ya" both of you erupted into laughter. Micha was only good at causing problems but you both knew that somehow he was a part of Dutches' master plan.

"Don't you worry little missy, when he comes back I'll make sure to make it clear to him that if he messes with my girl, I'll deal with 'em'' He wrapped an arm around your waist, bringing you closer to him as he planted a kiss on your lips. As you part, a sigh escaped your lips. It always feels so nice to be alone with Arthur. At camp he has to show himself around as the top gun who fears no man. After all he is, but alone he's able to calm down and relax to your touch, he wants nothing more than for you to be his and for you to be happy.

The wagon stopped on the side of the store and the two of you went in. You began to look around with Arthur but then he split off to speak to the shopkeeper about rhodes. You noticed a mirror off to the side of the store. Wasn't a huge mirror, but it was big enough for people to see their whole bodies, more than likely put in by the shopkeeper so people could see what they look like in the clothing he sold. You looked at yourself in the mirror at both a front and side angle. You had never been too concerned about your figure, after all the bigger you were the more of you to love, but what Micha said had unfortunately got to you. He always found a way to get to people and now you started to imagine yourself looking more and more uglier. 'How could Arthur love someone as hideous as me?' you had asked yourself at one point. You really hadn't changed much from when you first joined the gang and even before then, but now your looking at yourself through hateful eyes you had seemed to change immensely.

Arthur came up behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist and giving you a kiss on the neck. "Hey beautiful, whatcha doing?" he asked as if he hadn't been watching you from the moment you walked up to the mirror, with an expression showing your disgust for yourself. Your face grew red as you brushed it off saying 'nothing', the last thing you wanted was for Arthur to worry about your mentality. He held you for a few more moments before releasing you. The two of you went about your business in the shop and gathered all of the supplies needed. The shop keeper had offered to get the wagon all loaded since it was a decent amount of supplies and figured it would take a while. Arthur agreed to let him do it and decided that the two of you could go and have some fun. "Come on, women.''He said, waiting for you by the door. He held it open for you like a proper gentleman. He was always sweet on you and you loved it, so kind and gentle and yet so strong and fierce.

"Where are we off to Arthur?" Sweetly asking as you took his hand. "Well I figured we head off to the hotel, get a room while we're waiting and spend some time together." You could tell he was thinking of something, his eyes looked at you differently, not in a bad way, or so you hoped. Yall walked into the hotel and there just so happened to be a room for rent. You made your way up there and opened the door to see..........it wasn't as bad as the outside. In fact it wasn't bad at all. The inside was lovely. The bed was made up, the walls were a nice dark red with some black patterning, there was a chimney to keep warm in the winter, and the carpet looked as soft as could be. You sat yourself atop the bed as you looked around the room in awe, then to Arthur.

"So what is it yer planning? Finally gonna take me like a babe in the woods now?" You asked half jokingly. Not that you would mind. You've never actually had sex before and for how long you and Arthur had been together you would have thought he'd have taken you by now. You smile, then he starts walking towards you, hands at his sides. When he gets to your feet he bends down, placing his hands at either side of the bed as he leans into you and places a deep, passionate kiss on your lips. Moments later when he breaks it off, you are left slightly panting, wanting more.

"(Y/N), I see the way you look at yourself in that mirror, I've heard every goddamn awful thing Micha has said to you and the way he laughs at your figure, but he doesn't matter, he ain't with you because, to put it straight, he can't handle having a beautiful women such as yourself at his side. He doesn't deserve a woman like you and therefore he ain't got none." He grabs your right hand with his left, gently as he looks deep into your eyes.

"You are my everything, you are so beautiful to me, I would rather die than live a day without ever meeting you. You are the reason I love coming back to camp, you are the reason I love early mornings and late nights, I want you to be with my till the end, and I want you to be mine, if you'll have me" He finishes with a rasp in his voice, bringing your hand to his face and kissing it. You are left there with tears forming in your eyes and cheeks burning. You struggle to find words as you are left speechless. Never before have you been able to find a man who treats you so tenderly, who opens up to you, and values your time.

Taking in a deep breath, you say "Arthur, I love you so and I would love to be yours till the end, and I would greatly love if you were to take me here and now" He smiles and nods, putting his hat on the nightstand before grabbing your waist on either side and kissing you passionately, slowly lowering you to the bed as he begins to rub your hips, then moving slowly to your thighs. You try not to laugh as you gently push him away. "Arthur, perhaps we could get somewhere if our clothes were off, hmm?" He smiles sweetly at you. "'Scuse me there missy, I was trying to take it slow for you, considering' I'm yer first after all."

The both of you had gotten up and undressed, now you were embarrassed being in the nude with your lover but he didn't seem to mind as he took you in. He grabbed you and held you close, planting kisses all along the side of your neck and shoulder, meanwhile you could feel his dick getting harder. You draped your hands on his shoulders and soon enough they started to travel down to his chest. You decided that you should be brave and make the first move to initiate something, as he said he was taking it slow for you but you had wanted him for so long you could hardly wait any longer.

As you were softly moaning from the hickies he was giving you, you started to gently grasp his cock and start rubbing it. Taking his length in, feeling how thick it was. He grunted, obviously enjoying someone else touching it for a change. That's when you decided to push him on the bed then bent down. Karen had walked you through how to please a man properly, gave you all the tips and tricks you would need cuz she said "You never know when Arthurs gonna take you out on the woods and expect you to bend to his every whim."

Arthur looked at you, obviously intrigued. He knew you had never been with another man before, you had told him this many times, and yet here you were taking the lead. You spit on his tip and began to spread it around as a makeshift lubricant. You licked his tip before taking it in. Slowly you bobbed your head, taking in more and more of him over a small amount of time. Grunts frequentied out of his mouth as he leaned back, using his elbows for support, head leaning back. It was a sight to behold, here you were, pleasing one of the roughest, toughest, outlaws of the west. You held on to one of his thighs as you quickened your pace, his hand found his way into your hair. His grunts become louder as you edge him. Before his climax you hold your head down as he cums in your mouth. Warm, salty, liquid filled your mouth as you pulled back, coughing up some of it. Breathing heavily, Arthur quickly got up and apologized. "I'm sorry darlin', I don't know what came over me." He said

You wiped any remaining cum from your lips as you regained your breath and laughed. "If I knew you were that needy I would have taken you to town myself long ago." He chuckled as he helped you to the bed. He laid you down on your back and placed himself at your entrance. His thumb had traced small circles around your entrance before landing on and rubbing your clit. A surprised gasp left your lips as you felt this new sensation.Arthur humed, pleased with himself.

With his free hand he grabbed his throbbing cock and gave it a quick stroke. It was obvious that he was far too excited to do this with you as touched you, then rubbed his tip on your entrance. As his tip went over your now sensitive bud you had let out a small mew. Arthur leaned down and planted a kiss on your lips, tasting some of his own cum that lingered on your lips. He grabbed onto your legs and spread them, then with one of his hands he inserted himself into you, slowly. It was slightly painful at first, and Arthur took note of how tight you were, having trouble fitting all the way in. He let out a gruff "Damn women '' as he made his way completely inside of you. As you adjusted to him, some tears fell from your eyes. He kissed all over your face, cheek to cheek, landing on your lips.

"Darling' just let me know when you're ready" He had said between kisses. With a sigh and a wiggle of your hips, you looked at him and nodded. Gripping your thighs, he spread them once more. Slowly he thrust out then back in. The pace stayed slow until you bucked your hips.With a grunt he quickened the pace. You moaned, it felt so invigorating, finally having him inside you made you feel whole. You loved the way his strong arms held you, how no matter how badly you wanted to squeeze him in your thighs, your strength was nothing compared to his. The thought that, if he very so wanted, he could crush you right now. He could put a hand around your neck and fuck the living daylight out of you, could have you in a complete moaning mess, all sweaty and dumb.

"Arthur~" You moaned. He seemed pleased with that. "Mmm? Yes darlin? what can I do for ya?" He smirked. He could see it in your eyes, you wanted more. He began going rougher, he started to drill into you faster. Your moans became louder and more frequent. Your eyes started watering up as you closed them. "C'mon darlin, look at me" with that your eyes snapped back open to look at Arthur in all his glory. The light showed off his skin as the two watched each other for mere moments before locking lips together. Arthurs pace not faltering for a second as he mercilessly pounded into you. You felt a knot in your stomach as he went on.

"A-Arthur I-I Oh~" you tried to tell him but your moans had overpowered you. "Already, Sweetheart? maybe you were needier than me!" He laughed as he trudged into you, letting you reach your climax with his following soon after. You were not both just laying on the bed, panting, holding each other in your arms. With a kiss and some pillow talk, yall cleaned yourself up and made your way back to the wagon. All the while getting stares from other people in the area, including those in other rooms, the hotel clerk, some men and women outside, and even the man who had conveniently finished loading your wagon. Arthur helped you up once more and pulled himself up after you. For the short trip back to camp you remained on his lap, loving on him while you still could. Maybe one day he'll bring you out here again, can't say that the clerk will rent ya another room though.

[heyheydidjaknow]

Hey missy, I think a lot of us would LIVE to read about your otome project <3

Your phrasing and sentence structure softly kisses my forehead and then slaps me in my face afterwards everytime and if I can get that specific brand of joy by viewing something you are passionate about then expect me to eat it up like leftover birthday cake in the fridge after a night of drinking.

Keep your pretty head up, queen <3

The project is, essentially, to give a comprehensive summary of Mystic Messenger (chat room by chat room, phone call by phone call, pm by pm and story mode by story mode) via slideshow. The main reason I don’t talk about it is because I lowkey become a monster when I get into things at the best of times, and with something like MM it gets way worse. I absolutely can talk about it, but I have very strong opinions about this lil game and its characters that don’t necessarily fit my usual format. I’ll offer a sample of what that would look like under the cut; if it’s the sort of thing y’all would be interested in feel free to lmk.

So I’m doing V’s route right now (against my desires— I spent the 100 hgs so I wouldn’t have to actually suck up to him) and it’s a lot of V telling us (MC, whoever) that we need to not tell people things. Ever since the Secret Endings I have been way less trusting of Seven’s judgement, but nothing has brought me greater frustration than this masochist telling me to not let anyone else in on what’s going on when it’s info that absolutely concerns them. I can smell a bad ending on the horizon because all my answers are essentially “V really should be keeping communication open” and honestly I am standing behind my anti secret policy. The reason he gives— which is a bullshit reason I’m sure— is that everyone else wouldn’t be able to handle the info, which is not only ridiculous and patronizing for them but incredibly frustrating as someone who has to play as this incredibly passive character. We’re supposed to just sit on our hands when we know such pertinent information as where Seven’s twin brother is, who’s behind this whole ordeal, that there’s a cult (?) in the mountains and that we’re being held against our will, etc. I, as someone who’s played the secret endings and the other routes, know that V is trying to keep us out of dodge in his own stupid way, but the idea of being someone who has been kept in a compound in the middle of nowhere and keeping quiet about it instead of trying our luck making a dash for the woods and telling the only people I can tell that I’m in a bad position is incredibly frustrating. When it was (Ray/Saeran)’s route it kinda made sense because we were sticking around for him specifically, but V has made a great escape and is allegedly doing just fine. The lack of agency regarding the MC is always frustrating, but in this route in particular I have a sneaking feeling my desire to actually do shit and try to leave as opposed to following master planner V’s plan is going to get me a bad ending and take another 100 hgs.

Anyways now I’ve got to figure out how to explain what a Medical Proxy/DPOA is in an articulate way because I finally finished the Secret Endings and even though I recognize just asking my audience member to Google it makes more sense I want to make this presentation informative to make up for the months worth of chat rooms my friend (who may very well not be my friend after what I’m sure will be at least an hour of talking about this stupid game) will need to sit through the summaries of. More accurately I need to make a slide to explain what a DPOA because currently the slide part of my slideshow presentation is seriously lacking. Also how do indicate, when a wound is barely on screen, how a shoulder wound miraculously migrated to the elbow. Will keep people posted and maybe, when I am done, I will post the speaker notes here.

[mypoisonedvine]

The Summer Before College | Marcus Moreno x reader

summary: just because you got some good scholarships doesn't mean you couldn’t use some extra cash.  luckily, babysitting for a family friend has been a steady side gig for you.  rule number one of babysitting: don't let your wandering eye rest for too long on the hot single dad.  

word count: 4.7k

warnings: smut (dub con elements? but she’s into it lol don’t worry), age gap (he’s 40-something, reader’s 18/19), loss of virginity, pussy spanking (like, once), lots of petnames and ‘good girl’s, not a dark fic but kinda pushing it, not explicitly dad's best friend trope but it has that energy and I've decided that he is in fact friends with the reader's dad

a/n: this has basically nothing to do with the movie.  he’s just a hot dad.  don’t overthink it.

You knew the walk to the Moreno's by now: down two blocks from your house, take a right at San Vicente, a left on Birch, a few houses down and you're there.  With your full backpack weighing on your shoulders it felt longer than usual, but you made it anyways and knocked on the front door. 

"It's open!" a voice called from inside, and you turned the knob and swung the door open.

You almost regretted wearing your tiniest jean shorts, from the way Mr. Moreno did a double take when you walked in.  But hey, it was the middle of summer and he would never look at you like that— you were just his daughter's babysitter, ever since you were sixteen; he was probably just surprised to see that you were wearing something other than your school uniform.  Maybe some part of you wished he would look at you like that… 

Missy called your name, tearing you from your thoughts, jumping up when she saw you and beaming as she rushed to give you a hug.  "Hey!" you greeted in return.  

“Thanks again for doing this,” Mr. Moreno nodded in your general direction, apparently already dressed for whatever it was he had to do, slipping on his jacket from where it hung on a hook by the door.  "She's already had dinner, so just homework and bedtime," he explained to you as you nodded dutifully.

"Bedtime?  Dad, I'm not a little kid anymore," Missy rolled her eyes.

"Okay, you're a big kid and you need to be asleep by 10.  It's a school night."

She huffed but didn't protest, and you joined her on the couch because she wanted to show you some drawings she’d done earlier that day.  "Bye, Dad!" Missy waved when he left, and he turned back quickly to blow a kiss in her direction.

Once you helped her finish her homework (frankly, you didn't have to do that much— she's a smart kid), the two of you enjoyed some video games before you finally got her to start getting ready for bed.

It was cute how confident Missy was that she wouldn’t be able to fall asleep, only for her to be snoring within five minutes of her head hitting the pillow.  You were envious of how easily she could sleep; you could kill an hour just tossing and turning and readjusting your blanket.  But that wasn’t going to be your problem tonight: you weren’t going to sleep yet, until the man of the house returned, meaning all you had to do was wait.

Even in summer, having already graduated, you had plenty of work to do while you waited for Mr. Moreno.  Knowing what classes you had in the fall, you bought your textbooks a bit early and planned on reading them all before the semester began.  You’d already gotten through Philosophy Through the Ages and now you continued from where you left off in the middle of Introductory Physics.  

What surprised you was that you had time to finish that one, too.  You had anticipated that Mr. Moreno would be back before you made it to the module on fluid dynamics, but you reached the index at a quarter past midnight and he was still gone.  You shrugged and picked up the next one— A Book of Luminous Things: An International Anthology of Poetry— hoping he was alright and that he’d be back soon.

You had to make yourself some coffee when 1 a.m. rolled around; tired, anxious, and distracted, you realized this was probably not the best state to be attempting to study in, but you didn’t feel like you had a choice.  You didn’t want to fall asleep here, you’d promised to watch Missy and you couldn’t exactly do that while asleep… plus, he would probably be back any minute now.  Sure, you’d been saying that to yourself for nearly an hour and a half now, but it was more true than ever.

It was another hour and a half, though, until his car pulled into the driveway and he pushed through the front door, prompting you to set aside your textbook.

“Good evening,” you greeted, standing up.  He looked a little disheveled— but it worked for him, with that curly hair all messed up in just the right way.  Maybe it was just that it was late or that it was the rare time you saw him without Missy around, but there was a darkness about him now, not sinister so much as just purely intimidating.  It was like you hadn’t really taken him seriously before, and now you were appreciating that you should have.

“She’s asleep?” he assumed, glancing over to the hallway which his daughter’s bedroom was positioned at the end of before slipping his jacket off and hanging it by the door.

“It’s half past two, so… I really hope so,” you chuckled.

“Shit, is it that late already?” he groaned, glancing at his watch.

“Did you not notice?”

“I.. got carried away.”

You didn’t want to know what he’d been out so late for.  It was none of your business, and you figured you were better off without any secrets to keep— you’d never been so good at keeping secrets, even your own.

“Been studying this whole time?” he noticed as he glanced at the textbooks on the couch, grinning a little.  It sort of felt like he was mocking you, and it made your cheeks warm as you nodded.  “What a good girl.”

That made a cold tingle crawl up your spine.  Sure, other students had called you that before, and plenty of your teachers, but when he said it, like that… it felt entirely new.  “I try,” you managed to respond eventually.

“You’ll do well in college, I bet.”

“You think so?” you beamed.

“Yeah,” he nodded confidently.  There was something comforting about the way he smiled at you; yet, there was something predatory about the way his eyes glanced down your body and back up slowly.

As you turned and bent over to pick up your textbooks off the couch, you could tell that he had stepped closer; you could just barely hear the soft noise of his footsteps on his carpet, just barely feel the warmth of him behind you, just barely pick up on the slow, thoughtful breath he took in and out through his nose.

Standing back up slowly, you felt him do it again, right against your neck.

“M-Mr. Moreno,” you stammered, shivering when his hands gripped you on either arm.  Not a tight grip, per se, but one that made his strength obvious.

“You don’t have to call me that,” he breathed.  “Not when we’re alone.”

Not that you really had any plan on how to respond to that, but if you had, it would've been forgotten as his lips brushed over your neck, leaving teasing kisses in a trail over your pulse.

"Wait—" you blurted out instinctively when his hands moved to your waist, cut off by your own shaky sigh and suppressed moan.  “What if she wakes up?” you questioned anxiously, glancing down the hallway and hoping you wouldn’t find Missy there, watching her dad feeling you up— and you letting him, not just that but enjoying it.  Of course, the hallway was deserted, but you couldn’t feel certain it would stay that way.

“She won’t,” he assured.  “Not if you can be a good girl and stay quiet.”

You made a little whimpering noise as you wondered if you could.  You didn’t know how, really; you were good at being quiet when you were alone, but being alone had never felt like this.  Forbidden, sexy, terrifyingly wonderful… nothing had ever felt like this.

“Do you want me to stop?” he purred, sounding like he already knew the answer.

“No,” you answered a little too quickly, “please… please don’t stop.”

“Yeah, I thought so,” he grinned.  “Tell me what you do want.”

“I want…” you sighed and started over again, willing yourself to speak your thoughts aloud even though they made a pit of guilt sink in your stomach.  "I want you to make me feel good."

You knew it was a sort of childish way of putting it, even before he laughed at your statement, but you weren't sure what else to say.  "Yeah?  I can do that," he decided.  "But I can make you feel good in so many ways…" he trailed off as his right hand slipped lower and lower, finally landing between your legs as you gasped.  Two fingers slid over the crotch of your shorts, and somehow he managed to bump against something that made electricity shoot up your spine and your hips buck into his touch of their own accord.  You felt his smile widen as his teeth grazed against the sensitive skin of your neck.  "You'll have to be more specific," he finally finished.  "How do you want me to make you feel good?"

"Inside me," you whined, "I want you inside me."

There was a sudden shift as it seemed like the control he had over you suddenly did not extend to himself; he growled a bit and pulled you into him, and you could feel the hard shape of his cock, through his trousers and your shorts.  You could feel it pressed just above your ass and it made you squirm against his embrace.  "Feel what you do to me?" he grunted, and you nodded quickly.  "Good."

He spun you around quickly, pulling you close to him and burning right through you with those brown eyes darker than ever, but just as you thought he might kiss you, he spoke instead.

“My bedroom’s upstairs,” he informed you quietly.

You just nodded, following him as he pulled you along through the house, up the stairs and past the door to the master bedroom of the house.

Now that you hadn’t seen it coming, of course, was when he chose to grab you and kiss you suddenly.  It was rough and passionate and nothing like you could've imagined; you were certain you'd never been kissed like this, like he needed to kiss you more than he needed anything.  

Your arms slipped around his neck as he pushed you back against the wall, lifting your legs to wrap around his waist as he kicked the door shut behind the two of you.  Little moans were muffled by the kiss— and it took you a minute to realize they were yours.  You didn’t even sound like yourself; probably because you’d never felt like this before, and therefore had never had any reason to sound like this.

You could feel his cock between your legs, though unfortunately not in the way you wanted.  Still, it drove you wild to have him so close like this, to try to imagine how the thick shape you were feeling would ever fit inside you.

His hands were so strong and thick that you worried they’d stretch out your tank top just by reaching under it— well, that is you would have worried about that if you could think about anything else but his hands reaching under your tank top.  He didn’t even waste his time touching you over your bra, instead making quick work of the clasps with one hand before coming back to grope one breast in his palm, then the other.  Just that was enough to make you run your fingers into his hair, but a little pinch to your raised nipple made your fists tighten and pull— you didn’t mean to, and you were just about to feel bad about it until he growled a little.  It seemed like a growl of approval, considering he pinched your nipples harder to make you do it again.  

“Feels good?” he asked with annoying (yet arousing) confidence.

“S-so good,” you slurred, stumbling over your words as you tried to think as clearly as possible through the thick haze of pleasure clouding your mind. 

As he guided you to set your legs down and unhook your arms from around his neck, you felt a bit like a doll being posed; when he pulled your top over your head and your bra from your arms, you felt like a doll being undressed.  You sort of didn’t mind it; you were happy to let him take the lead, confident he knew at least 100% more about this than you did. 

He knelt down before you as he roughly pulled at your tight jean shorts, his knuckles nearly bruising your hips as he stripped you.  Your underwear were not the pair you would’ve worn if you had known somebody was going to see them, just a plain dark blue color that made you feel so drab as he came face-to-face with them.  He didn’t seem to mind much, grinning up at you as he slipped his fingers under them and pulled them down, too.  Your face was so hot and yet your legs were breaking out into goosebumps simultaneously, and a shiver rolled up your body when he growled at the sight of your body laid bare for him.  Before you could even process it, he stood up and grabbed you, tossing you back onto the bed and spreading your legs.

“Fuck, what a pretty little pussy,” he praised with a smile that made you feel a little light-headed, swirling a few fingers over your swollen button until pulling them back to spank you there— it wasn’t even that hard, but you yelped and jolted and he laughed darkly.  “So sensitive,” he purred, his words walking a fine line between a compliment and a taunt, “so wet.”

Another finger slipping down to your entrance proved him right, your arousal plentiful as his touch glided through your folds.  

Suddenly overcome with a moment of bravery, you sat up and fumbled with the buttons of his shirt, making him smile down at you.  “Let me help you,” he offered as he worked the buttons instead, freeing you to try to open his belt.  “Look at you, acting so desperate…”

At this point, you weren’t even offended by that; you wanted him so bad that you didn’t have the energy to be embarrassed by it anymore.  

He slipped the shirt off of his shoulders just as you finished opening the belt.  He pushed your hands away, and now you could see the muscles in his arms flexing as he held you down by your wrists.  “You’re getting ahead of yourself, señorita,” he purred.

Why did feeling powerless to him turn you on so much?  There was no real fear to it— you knew and trusted him, you would never have developed your misguided crush on him if you didn’t— and yet there was a strong edge of uncertainty as he kissed your neck and moved down your chest, between your breasts before he stopped to kiss those, too.

“Oh god,” you breathed, and he smiled against your skin before sitting up and staring down at you.  It wasn’t apparent if it was distant streetlights or the moonlight shining in through the window, but either way it cast a cold blue light into the room that reflected as a glimmer in his eyes. 

“Not gonna make you wait any longer,” he promised in a low voice, reaching down to push his unbuttoned belt and trousers to his thighs— those thick, muscular thighs that made your lip catch between your teeth.

Your breath caught, too, but in your lungs this time as his cock was exposed: thick, swollen, veiny… it looked picturesque, if thoroughly intimidating.  You couldn’t figure out if you wanted to move towards it or sheepishly crawl away.

"Why do you look scared?" he asked, his voice so much deeper than you remembered it from before, even if there was genuine concern somewhere in his tone.

"Is it gonna hurt?" you asked instead of answering.

"Baby…" he sighed huskily, "are you a virgin?"

You bit your lip and looked away, irritated that you hadn't managed to hide your fear enough to keep your secret.  

He sighed, your silence apparently answer enough.  

"Do you not want to, anymore?" you asked anxiously, afraid you had completely killed the mood.  Part of the reason it'd taken you this long to lose it was specifically because people seemed intimidated by the idea of being your first.

"No, no, I— no," he asserted sternly.  "I just need to… change my approach, slightly.”

He leaned down a bit, hovering over you as he trailed his hand up your leg, rubbing the inside of your thigh before finally drawing circles over your aching clit with his thumb, causing you to shiver and moan quietly.

“And, to answer your question, it won’t hurt.  Not if I get you good and ready for me,” he explained, pushing just one finger into you— and even that small of a stimulation made your eyes flutter shut, with his fingers being so much thicker and stronger than yours.

The second made your fists clench around the satin-y sheets beneath you.  You didn’t dare open your eyes, knowing you’d find him staring down at you and you weren’t ready for that, weren’t ready to see his reaction to your body in such a vulnerable state.  You could hear his reaction, though, with the rough groans and satisfied sighs he let out as he pumped his fingers into you.

When three fingers filled you, your eyes shot open.  “Fuck!” you yelped.

He smiled but slowed down, apparently taking some pity on you— but not enough to stop him from pressing down harder on your clit.

Just when you figured he’d warmed you up enough and he’d fuck you like he promised, he slid lower and the bed and bent down, adding his tongue into the mix with his fingers.  It was… overwhelming, and hot, not just psychologically but literally: it was physically hot, as in temperature.  How was his mouth so warm against you, and his fingers so warm inside you?

When he latched his lips around your clit and sucked on it, you saw stars.  Energy gathered in your gut and burned so bright that you thought you might explode.  Really, it was more like an implosion as the coil inside you snapped and your thighs accidentally clamped down on his hand.  It didn’t faze him though, it didn’t even slow him down as he moaned a little against you and curled his fingers even harder.  You didn’t remember reaching down to grab his head, you just felt his hair between your fingers as you pulled it roughly, gasping his name.

When he did stop, sitting up and wiping his face with the back of his hand, you just looked back up at him as you caught your breath.  He laughed, and you realized you were gawking unintentionally.

“I’m guessing you’ve never come like that before?” he ventured.  You didn’t know if ‘like that’ meant from oral or just so suddenly and intensely, but it was true either way so you nodded.

When he reached down to grip his cock with the same hand still wet with your slick, you held your breath without realizing it.  “Please put it in me,” you whimpered.

“I will,” he assured as he guided the head of it through your slick folds, stopping to tease your clit as you jolted from the contact on the sensitive nerves.  Something surreal and indescribable tingled under your skin— you could hardly believe that this was happening, let alone with him, with Mr. Moreno.  Or, Marcus.  You were on a first-name basis by now, surely.

He pushed forward in one smooth, slow stroke until he was all the way inside you, his body filling yours to the brim as you quivered from the sensation of being stretched so wide.  

“Am I hurting you?” he asked roughly.

“...almost,” you answered hesitantly, unsure how to describe the sensations you were feeling; not exactly pain, but not not pain.  The favorite pain you’d ever felt in your life, easily.

He chuckled as he gripped your hips a little tighter.  "I'm gonna move now," he announced.  You nodded your approval, sighing shakily as he pulled his hips back and you felt the intoxicating friction of his cock against your walls.  

"Ffffuck," you whimpered, gasping when he slammed his hips forward again.  Your eyes rolled back in your head when he pushed as deep into you as he could with each thrust, still measured but not exactly gentle as he set a pace faster than you’d prepared for.  But it was good, god it was so fucking good you weren’t sure what to do with yourself.  "Marcus," you sighed, barely recognizing your own voice when it was heavy with need and arousal like this.

He grinned when he heard his name cross your lips, grinding his hips against yours for emphasis until you were forced to arch your back.  "You like it rough, don't ya, honey?"

You nodded, confident that you liked it however he was doing it.

"Fuck, I knew it.  Knew as soon as I saw you."

Before you could wonder what he meant by that, he was already moving fast enough to make your head spin.  You had never had anything so deep inside you before, and when he pushed your legs up and back against your chest, you had no choice but to scream with pleasure.

Just before you reached the peak of it though, his hand clamped down over your mouth to muffle the sound.  "Gotta be quiet," he reminded you through his teeth before relaxing his hand a bit so you could still be heard somewhat

"I can't," you whined, "Marcus, please, I can't stay quiet—"

"You have to."

"Feels too good," you whimpered your excuse.  "F-fuck, slow down, I won't be able to stop it—"

He cut you off with a kiss, slow yet dominating, and your moans were muffled by his lips.  You still sounded so loud in your own head, but at least your cries weren't echoing against the walls of his room anymore.

What was echoing were the sounds of skin slapping on skin as he pounded into you, roughly finding every delicate spot within you and making the backs of your thighs sore as his hips slammed into them.  It forced your hands to grip at his muscular shoulders and your nails to dig into the skin there.  You hoped there would be little half-moon shaped marks there tomorrow, maybe one would even scar so he'd have your mark on his body forever; after all, he'd carved a permanent space in your body by taking your virginity.  Even if you couldn't dream of being as special to him as he was to you, you liked the idea of giving him something that he couldn't give back.

That energy was building again, different from before but no less powerful and persistent.  "I'm gonna— fuck, I'm gonna come, I'm so close," you whispered.

“Yeah?  Go ahead," he encouraged.  "I wanna see you fall apart just for me, wanna feel you come around my cock."

You hadn't realized he'd be able to feel it, and the idea of that was so filthily beautiful that it pushed you over the edge, your whole body tensing up in sudden waves of pleasure so intense that it made your eyes water.

Through the static filling your ears, you heard his low, husky voice encouraging you: "Good girl, just like that, don't fucking stop."

You'd always been powerless to his voice, but this was another level.  It was as if your body understood and met his demands, continuing to ride the peak of your sensation so long as he growled in your ear just right.  

It was much too tender, the way he brushed the stray hair away from your face, the way he kissed your slack mouth again, the way he held you tighter and mumbled more praises to you.  It was more romantic than it had any right to be, and you had to bite back the words of affection threatening to spill out of your mouth.

I love you, you wanted to tell him, I've loved you for years, but it was beyond inappropriate.  You didn't want to play the role of the innocent virgin who thinks sex means being in love and lets herself catch feelings for the older man who is just taking what he wants and, at best, doing her a favor so she doesn't have to go off to college and get her cherry popped there.  Maybe that was accurate, but that wasn't who you wanted to be.  

You wanted to be sexy, and mature, and in control.  You wanted to play a new rule, one that still felt foreign and yet closer than ever.  So you wrapped your legs around his hips and held him deeper in you, smiling with a little growl of your own.

"I want you to come inside me," you informed him with a purr, loving the little moment of shock that passed over his face before he groaned, fucking you a little faster and more erratically.

"Fuck, really?" he rasped.

You bit your lip as you looked up at him through half-lidded eyes and nodded.

"You're on the pill?"

Another nod, this one finished off with a shiver as you wondered how much more of this your body could take.

He grinned and picked up the pace again, his moans getting a little louder with each movement.  "Fuck, I'm gonna come— gonna fill up your tight little pussy, is that what you want?"

You nodded feverishly, already close to the edge again as you imagined what it would be like to have his come in you for the rest of the night.  Was he going to make you walk home with it leaking out from between your legs?  Why did that idea make your inner muscles involuntarily tighten around him?

With a string of curses and a grip on your thigh tight enough to bruise, he reached his own peak and you felt his cock flex and pulse inside you, a new warmth filling your gut from the inside out.  

It's hard to say how long the two of you stayed like that, since you were busy basking in the afterglow (and, less enjoyably, worrying about the consequences that tomorrow morning would bring).

When he pulled out and collapsed beside you, you wondered if you should get up and get dressed.

"Stay here tonight," he instructed you, as if somehow a response to your internal thought.  "Your folks won't freak out if you're out all night, right?"

"I'll just tell them I slept over at your place," you shrugged.  With a confused look from him, you clarified: "on the couch."

"Right," he nodded as he wrapped you in his arms and pulled you closer, letting you rest your head in the crook of his neck.  In this way and in so many others, it was how you expected (and hoped) losing your virginity would go: someone you trust and who cares about you, with enough attention on you that you didn't feel much pain, plus cuddling afterwards.  But, in even more ways, it was unlike what you'd ever thought possible: it felt incredible and you came so hard that your ears were still kind of ringing, you didn't use a condom or even think to mention it, and finally— and most absurdly— it was with Marcus fucking Moreno.

Frankly, considering his performance earlier, "fucking" very well could be his middle name.

"You should sit for me again next week," he suggested quietly.

"Do you have somewhere to go?"

"No," he grinned, "but I'll be sure to come back real late, after she's gone to bed, so I can show you all the other ways I can make you feel good."

"H-how many ways are there?!"

He just laughed, pulling you closer and placing a gentle kiss to the top of your head.  “Oh, sweetheart… so smart, but so innocent.  We can fix that.”

You weren’t sure entirely which of those two things he intended on fixing.

[veraynes-blog]

hi! During the hollidays I went completely berserk on your tensimm fics and devored them. I never took the time to leave a comment because i was just always ravenous for the next chapter lol. I especialy love unspoken!! the concept of a willingly broken down and stuck tardis that still somewhat functions but isn't itself but still has all the infinite rooms,,,,argh!!! makes my brain go brrrrr i feel like its such rich ground for existencial horror Other than that, I'm absolutely in love with how you interprent tensimm, especially this..darker version of themelf the doctor can be if he lets himself get influenced, it really feels like yeah, this is what would happen to them. I also think you wrote the sexiest fanfic porn i ?? ever read???!! and ive been reading those for longer than i should Anyway I wanted to draw a big piece of fanart for you but other work got in my way. I still really wanted to show my appreciation for your writing hence this out of nowhere ask I wonder, what are your thoughts on 12 and missy? They're my fav version of them bc missy character's arc just!!!!gets to me, would love to have your thoughts :) Anyway i'll stop rambling on now, I hope you have a lovely day, I can't wait for whatever writing you have planned next

Oh wow, thank you so much??? 🥰 What a lovely message to log in to this morning!!

Ahhgh I'm so glad you enjoyed the fics! It's been my favourite fandom to (obsessively) take part in, which is probably why I'm not ready to let it go yet lol. I love your take on the broken TARDIS in Unspoken. Not something I actively considered at the time, but you're so right. They were living in a TARDIS shell, there's definitely something horrifying when you say it like that 😅

✨️Love✨️ when the Doctor gets an opportunity/temptation/influence to go a bit darker! You can tell in canon that it's something just below the surface, especially in Ten, and I feel like if he'd had more exposure to the Master his story could have gone a lot differently 👀

I'm always overwhelmed people even consider drawing fanart for my fics, thank you for telling me!! 🥰

And I love Twelve and Missy so much! Our first and only semi-canon confirmation of romance between them. They're also both a close second favourite in terms of versions of the Doctor and Master, for me. I would say, though, I always thought there was an air of... tragedy? That went right through their storyline. Not just the misunderstanding at the end (which to this day I find harrowing as a narrative 😔) but even the fact that Missy was so lonely and desperate to get her friend back that she was willing to change everything about herself? And the Doctor let her?? Demanded it, actually?? I dunno, she was just trying so hard in her own psychotic way, and I think Twelve wanted it to work as well, but he had such a strict and obscure moral code by that point that it all felt a little... doomed 😕

I do love them, I promise, I'm just not as good with tragedy as a genre 😅

Thank you again for the message! 😘

[rowanthestrange]

So @rearranging-deck-chairs, vaguely connected thought that’s sort of related, since we’re in that mood where we say things that get us cancelled if misinterpreted.

I’m not sure if I’m going to do this in the Sweetquel or not, and this’d be something in another Sweetquel/spinoff/au anyway (you know how it is with worldbuilding, you write knowing things may just exist as concepts even if you don’t get to the final realisation point). But it still wouldn’t be entirely laid out so:

My thought is that Dhawan!Master regenerated looking like this very specifically. While not my default headcanon, I’m going post-Missy. Time to philosophise and read, sure, but also time to absorb plenty of cultural thoughts from the time period - which we know from Simm!Master (and even Missy) those sort of bigoted ideas stick.

So because of the post-revelation headstate, he regenerates as Bad.

Therefore, what to him, given the society he’s been exposed to, is Bad. ((Obviously not my thoughts, his thoughts, pitchforks away, slurs etc. incoming)) Well skin colour’s not too hard - brown. Not black, that’s too slavery as well as thug, no, now it’s all about Looking Like A Terrorist. Maybe he’ll grow a beard. What else? Well being a fruity Fag of course, got to be that, he’s going to make the normal men feel soooo uncomfortable, might even spread some diseases to them for fun if they get angry enough to get handsy. And of course, a necessity for all these, and the biggest Bad, he’s got to be a Man.

Which to my story/mind, means all this has to go wrong in some way. We already have the skin colour and his plans and the nazis. He’s not A Potential Terrorist To Be Feared anymore, now he’s A Jew in a camp during the holocaust.

As for Fag, he’s also now accidentally given himself a genuine sexuality and romantic attraction for the first time, and he’s also attracted to women too, despite giving off the air of someone who had to go to speech therapy to surgically amputate the lisp.

And as for Man… his gender is…well…fairly that way. But his body naturally is female, and he’s now incongruent in a way that he’d always gave the Doctor hell for when they’d whine about it. And his disconnect between his desired mental image of himself and the physical reality of who he is, gives him a dysphoria so powerful it means he tries to take a knife to himself the moment the post-regenerative effects will allow it. (An act of stabbing himself that may have been cathartic had he been able to think about anything other than how mirrors work, pain making his hands shake, and not bleeding to death).

Something something the basics of who we are do not actually go into boxes of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ something something.

[marauderundercover]

Making Memories: Ch. 11

Day 11: Fate and Phoenix

AO3

Prev

Marinette had never liked the idea of fate. Well, she might have liked it when she was really young, she didn’t remember. What she did remember though, was the old lady that lived in the building next to the bakery. When Marinette was really little, the woman was her parent’s go to babysitter. She was nice enough, but she often rambled about things six year old Marinette didn’t really understand- or care about. One of those things was fate. The woman had always insisted that you couldn’t avoid fate, and trying to would only bring your fate faster. And the woman always talked about fate as if it was another term for death. Always connecting the two. Needless to say, at the ripe age of six, Marinette saw fate as an enemy.

As she got older, she wasn’t quite as hostile towards the idea, even teetering on the possibility of believing in it when she first became the Guardian. Some of the things Master Fu had said, had just led her to believe that he was right. That it was fate. And maybe fate wasn’t so bad. Then Jason had read a book to her. It was the first book he’d read to her that wasn’t a classic, but neither of them had been feeling up to discussing the classics. The book had described fate as ‘a strange, unpopular restaurant filled with odd little waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don't always like.’

Staring blankly at the computer screen in the Batcave, she wished she’d remembered earlier that fate was never on her side.

“Mars, are you okay?” Tim asks softly, his voice the only one she’s able to latch onto. Everyone else is yelling, screaming at both the computer and each other as they try and figure out a plan.

“No.” She breathes out, hands immediately shaking. Instantly, she clenches her fists, not wanting anyone else to see how much this was affecting her. Hating how weak she felt in the moment. She was desperate to get rid of that feeling, no matter how stupid her gut was telling her it was.

“Do you-”

“I need to go get Tikki. She won’t let me go out without her.” Marinette interrupts, flinching slightly at the sudden silence in the cave. It was deafening.

“The fuck you do. You’re not going out there!” Jason argues, crossing his arms and staring down at her. She mimics his posture, narrowing her eyes as well.

“What do you mean I’m not going out? Yes, I am.” She counters. Jason scoffs.

“I think the fuck not, Marinette. You haven’t even gone on normal patrols-”

“I’ve gone out! I’ve gone out loads of times with the Sirens.” Marinette counters, glaring at her older brother. Did he really think she was too weak for this? That she wasn’t strong enough?

“I don’t give a fuck. The last time this sick son of a bitch was near you, he tried to kill you. Ladybird hasn’t been seen since, so there’s a good chance he thinks you’re dead. We send you out and he catches word, and his interest is right back on you. Trust me, I fucking know.” Jason practically growls the last part, his entire body tense as he glares at her.

“So what, I’m just never allowed to be Ladybird again? Is that what you’re saying?” She asks, her voice growing louder. She ignores the looks from her other brothers and dad, too focused on her fight with Jason. Why was he acting like this?

“No! That’s not- Look, I just don’t want you to get hurt again, Pixie.” Jason says. Marinette huffs.

“You all get hurt all the time!” She points out.

“But we don’t all almost die from the same son of a bitch who has tried to destroy us at every goddamn opportunity.” Jason says. Marinette opens her mouth to argue more, but her dad steps between them.

“That’s enough.” He says firmly. “Marinette, you are not to follow us tonight.” He adds. Her jaw drops.

“Are you serious?” She asks, he nods.

“You’re still grounded anyway, missy, for the stunt you pulled with the Sirens.”

“I didn’t mean to cause property damage!” Marinette reminds him, pouting. It’d been an accident, really.

“I don’t care if you meant to or not. I grounded you, so you’re benched from all alter egos for two weeks. And Jason’s right-”

“Shit, bet that hurt to say.”

“-as long as the Joker thinks you’re dead, you remain off his radar. If he knows you’re alive, it’ll make him just that more interested in you. We don’t need to risk that.” Her dad says, and she can see the worry in his eyes as he looks at her.

“I still vote we kill the son of a bitch instead of shoving him back in Arkham. Obviously he’s not gonna stay.” Jason adds. Marinette frowns, feeling awful for the part of her that agrees with Jason. The part of her that wants the Joker to suffer- suffer like she did. Like he made her family suffer. She blinks, shaking her head. Harley assured her that small doses of anger or rage like that was okay, as long as she didn’t act on it by hurting herself or others. She was also certain that if she texted the woman to go kill the Joker with her right now, Harley would answer with a smiley face emoji and ‘sure’. It was something she admired about the woman. Her predictability.

“We have a code, Jason.” Her dad says, pinching his nose as the clear signs of frustration cross his face.

“No, you have a code that you keep shoving down our throats.” Jason argues. The two continue going back and forth, and Marinette decides to use the opportunity to her advantage. Slipping past her brothers, she heads towards the stairs to grab Tikki. So okay, maybe she shouldn’t be seen around in Gotham, but she was sure the kwami would have an idea. Just as she makes it to the stairs, a hand grabs her arm. She whirls around, prepared to hit the person, and frowns instead.

“What?” She asks Damian, frowning. He usually went along with her crazy schemes. She could pretty much always count on him to-

“If you two are done fighting, could we go put him back in Arkham?” Damian asks loudly, from his spot next to her. Everyone turns to look at them, and she scowls at him. Sure, they really did need to get a move on. But he definitely said it close to her so that she would be caught and couldn’t leave. Evil genius.

“Right. Marinette, you are to stay in the cave with Alfred and Barbara. Do you understand?” Her dad asks, his voice firm. She opens her mouth to argue, but closes it instead. It’s not that she wanted to go after the Joker. In fact, the very idea of it made her sick to her stomach. She was just so tired of feeling weak and scared every time the man was brought up. And now that he’d escaped from Arkham, after a little over a month? She was not doing okay.

“Fine.” She mumbles, pushing past him to go curl up in a chair near Babs. Fate sure liked to give her a big middle finger sometimes. Hopefully, fate knew that she was giving one right back.

---

Jason grins viciously under his helmet. The Joker was right in front of him. He could easily- he stops, glancing over at Bruce. It’s not that he was against killing in front of the man. But he was pretty sure that Bruce would limit his visits with Pixie Pop and Demon Spawn, and he didn’t want to risk that. So instead, he’d settle for following the man’s cue. B makes eye contact with him- as well as they can with helmets and cowls- before dropping down behind the Joker. Just as the man whirls around to face Batman, Jason drops down. He feels his blood boil as he looks at man, the rage inside of him building up.

“I see you’re missing a little birdy.” Joker says, his tone light. Jason clenches his jaw.

“Robin is patrolling elsewhere tonight.” B says calmly. Joker laughs, a wicked grin on his face.

“I wasn’t talking about that one. I meant, the girl. You know, the one that just couldn’t take the...heat. Get it? Cause she blew up.” Joker snorts, laughing maniacally. Before Jason can lunge forward and beat the shit out of him, B’s doing it. Jason’s grateful that his helmet hides his entire face, because his jaw drops. He just stands there as B beats the shit out of the Joker, blinking at the scene, utterly confused.

“Don’t talk about her.” B growls as he punches the man. His face was covered in blood, but the man still smiled widely.

“Doesn’t this bring back great memories? You tried to kill me after I killed Robin, too. You tried, Batsy, but you just couldn’t pull the trigger, could you? Not even for one of your sidekicks.” Joker drawls out, almost as if the beating was doing nothing to him. He lets out a few muffled screams. That’s when Jason realizes that B had moved on to breaking the man’s bones. As much as it pains him, he tugs Bruce off of the Joker.

“Listen, if anyone’s gonna kill this son of a bitch for what he did, it’s gonna be me. Don’t go against your own morals, B.” Jason chastises him, tying the Joker up with zip ties- ignoring the cries of distress from the man as his broken bones are jostled roughly. Looking down at the man- the bleeding, broken man who had once left Jason (and two people he loved) bleeding and broken- he can’t help but smirk underneath the helmet.

“You know-” Joker starts, but Jason cuts him off.

“I wouldn’t, if I were you. Bats is forgiving to a point, but I’ll just as soon shoot you. You’re one crazy son of a bitch, and I don’t think you should be given the chance to go to Arkham instead of a prison.” Jason practically hisses. He was just waiting for his chance. It wouldn’t be today, but Jason Todd was determined to kill the fucking Joker.

---

Marinette breathes a sigh of relief at the news. Her family had caught the Joker, and they were en route to the Cave. It was fine. It had worked out just fine.She jumps up to greet her family, immediately alarmed by the amount of blood her dad had on him.

“What happened?” She asks shrilly, searching for a first aid kit.

“It’s not mine.” Her dad says. She just gapes at him.

“Is that- was- what do you mean?” Marinette asks, eyebrows scrunching together in confusion.

“He talked about you. He won’t anymore.” Her dad says before walking away, silently. Marinette sighs, confusion still flowing over her. But that was okay. She’d probably get the entire story later. All she cared about for right now, was that the Joker was locked up again. Hopefully his punishment would stick this time. She’d hate for Tikki to get involved.

Next

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[rearranging-deck-chairs]

continuing my train of thought from here. im imagining all the ways they might be moving around each other here:

theres a battle for dominance of course but thats far from the only thing i think for these two at this point thats like, the background chatter, they do the dominance displays in their sleep it’s their relaxing theyre basically just dancing at this point. theyve got a whole entire like

but then in addition to that theres this big looming spectre of H O M E in this scene/between them in general. i think thats gonna influence the way the master looks. and hes very hurt and i dont think he’d try to hide that. i havent watched s12 in a while so im not sure if i agree with what im about to say or if i come back on it next time i rewatch but i think it might be interesting if 13 can See that hes in pain, and she engages with his performance anyway. there are probably so many reasons that would be underneath that decision, like

1) she respects their mutual performance enough to engage only with the script, not with anything else she might be seeing

2) the fact that hes in pain and hes doing this to deal with it is as much proof as him like, returning to his former habits, as the ‘im just evil ive never been good’ that he tries to sell her is.

i had some more points to add to that list but i got distracted and forgot them but im actually very much into this interpretation and im definitely taking this as canon. i like it better than that she just believes his lie. it’s different but similar with what i believe she does with yaz. which fits. but with yaz it’s mean and with the master it’s not. because this is just what they do.

oh! yeah some other things that i think might be going on here: i think if the master’s regeneration was on the colony ship, then it was close to a black hole, then that must have messed with the regeneration and his time sense. and i think the master already has a very like, unconventional squid shape because of the untempered schism and the drums etc and i think the squid shape is tied to the time sensitivity. so the way he looks now to the doctor is different to how missy looked. like, more... injured? and i think the master already looks plenty injured, but like, some new scars or new twists in their tentacles or new like, weird stuff.

like the way the doctor looks at him in that scene is like shes trying to figure him out. and if he looks like, idk, like hes got tentacles that are tied in a knot and hes got a couple more half ones and one thats like all stretched out and doesnt really move anymore. and shes trying to read him and also trying to reconstruct what the fuck happened to him and also he keeps doing all these weird things like hes not Doing The Normal Shapes the way they do it’s like, halfassed

a little bit of this but then he keeps dropping it just to spell out GRIEF GRIEF GRIEF GRIEF and then hes like half doing stuff as if they were back home as if they were 8 years old but then he keeps slipping into doing stuff as if hes locked up and she has the key only to confusedly interrupt himself to be like

like hes having five different conversations with her, in four languages, maybe as three people

and she cant really make sense of it but she gets the basics which are that hes hurt and that hes doing their old script, which she knows, and she respects the game, and theres not much she can do with the rest anyway even if she wanted to disrespect him and their game by acknowledging it, so she just,, says her lines like shes supposed to.

and then the “:D you dont know! youre not in control of those creatures” is like. no of course he isnt hes not in control of anything like if the tentacles are all these senses they use to manipulate stuff, timelines, luck, minds, etc hes sort of useless at the moment. like hes trying to do stuff but hes not being super successful because he has way more brainspace dedicated to just feelings at the moment than any plan

[seriouslycromulent]

I finally finished watching the Peter Capaldi episodes of Doctor Who ...

... before my HBOMax subscription runs out at midnight tonight. (I was supposed to cancel it back in late August, but kept putting it off.)

Anyway, I only have 3 6 7 8 things to say at the moment while I'm still processing his tenure as the Doctor:

Bill Potts is awesome, and I wish she had been a companion longer. But I wonder why they never explained why her name was Bill. Was it a nickname? Did she officially change it from another name? Was it given to her at birth? My inquiring mind wants to know.

My favorite Christmas special was "The Husbands of River Song." It made me want to see River and the 12th Doctor together again because they had amazing chemistry together. I would go so far as to say Alex Kingston had more chemistry with Peter Capaldi than she ever did with Matt Smith or David Tennant, and yet she spent the least amount of time with Peter on-screen. If there happens to be any fanfiction out there about their last night together on Darillium, I'd love to read it.

The episode "Flatline" from season 8 has to be the first episode of Doctor Who since "Blink" that made me actually scream out loud from a jump scare. For those who don't remember, it was the one about the 2D creatures killing people and trying to figure out how to interact with our 3D world. The Doctor ends up calling them the Boneless, which is kinda m'eh for a name, but I found them wonderfully terrifying. Almost up there with the Weeping Angels.

I miss Missy. I wish she had been the Master longer. I'd love to read some fanfiction between her and the 12th Doctor as well. I also kind of want to read some fanfiction between her and John Simms' Master. (**cough**)

David Bradley as the First Doctor was a wonderful surprise that I didn't see coming at all in the final Christmas special for the 12th Doctor. Even though I swear Bradley has looked the same age for the last 25 years, he really was a wonderful choice in casting as a ringer for William Hartnell.

Even though he looks good with short or long hair, I think I prefer the 12th Doctor with the longer or long-ish hair. Not quite as long as it was in the last Christmas special, but essentially the same length it was for most of the 10th series.

Capaldi looks funny when he runs. Like he doesn't do it often. Tennant still holds first prize for having the best run for any New Who Doctor. Capaldi's may be the oddest.

Capaldi is now tied for my favorite Doctor with David Tennant.

-----

OK. That's it for now.

I plan to watch the 13th Doctor's episodes over Thanksgiving and Christmas at my folks' house because they have HBOMax and aren't getting rid of theirs.

I don't know if I'll be able to catch up before the new season, but since I haven't watched Doctor Who regularly in over 6 years, I'm not too worried about rushing to catch up.

[is-that-another-soulmate-au]

Zukka Soulmate AU part 9

@mypureessence

@chaoticidiott

@ari-shipping-stuff

@knightedbot

@idkhowbutimgayer

@swampy-beans

@angrylittleintrovert

Kurt was only out for about 15 minutes but that was long enough for Tarren and Fin to get him to the back on one of the spare cots. The gaang besides Iroh and Jee stayed to see how things went down, all gathered in the room reading maps and planning their trip while Lily paced back and forth muttering to herself before she threw her hands in the air

"Why wouldnt he tell us!?" She shouted

"I dont know Lily" Tarren said while he dabbed a cold towel on Kurt's forhead

"I mean, he could see the scars the three of us share! Why... why wouldnt he say anything!?"

"I'm sure he had a good reason Lily, I mean, how did you guys even know you had a third soulmate?" Katara asked with a small tilt to her head.

The duo both placed their hands to their chests instinctively. "Well, we didn't always know, but one day we both collapsed in the middle of a shift,"

[Flashback when? Flashback now!]

"Of course Miss Jin, Grey with honey and two sugars at 3 pm sharp just like every other Friday" Lily smiled while handing the girl her cup of tea she made for her at the exact same time every single friday evening. Jin was a favorite.

"How are you and Tarren?" Jin asked with a smile which made Lily blush

"Hah. We're doing alr-" suddenly Lily lost her breath from a blunt pain in her chest. "Tarren" she wheeled out just before letting out a yelp and clutching her chest "Tarren!"

"Lily!" Tarren's voice called out from the other sid of the Library followed by the sound of scrolls falling to the ground

The two scrambled to eachother with Jin following Lily and Fin rushing out from the back with paperwork to see what was happening. The pair crashed into eachother and held onto the others arms "what happened?" Lily cried out "whats going on. It burns, oh Gods it burns Tarren"

"I- I dont know" Tarren when to unclip his uniform, shucking off the top shirt before ripping the underdress to reveal painful bubbling skin in the shape of a hand and spreading across his chest and up to his neck down past where he managed to rip down to.

"There's a third" Jin said with a gasp

"Whoever they are theyre in trouble" Fin said bluntly while turning to Jin "Jin do you mind running to get the medic? I have to stay with them and they can't move" he gestured to their shivering crying forms.

"Are they dying?" Lily managed to wheeze out between sobs of pain

"No, this isnt direct, its just an- oh right" he nearly forgot that Lily watched her parents killed in a similar way "Lily, trust me, the third in the trio is not dying, they're being hurt, but they aren't dying"

Lily nodded, the pain lasted for a good 20 minutes before slowly dying down and feeling like it was being treated on all ends.

[Flashback over]

Katara gave a small frown "I wonder what happened to him"

"Ill tell you if you help me sit up" Kurt said with a small cough. Sokka who had been sitting near him but was lost in a map with Zuko looked up

"Oh, the munchkin awakens!"

"The... what?" Kurt laughed out

"Ignore him, he's stupid sometimes" Katara said as she helped Kurt sit up and put a pillow behind his back. "How did you get burned if you dont mind me asking?

Kurt gave a sigh and looked to Sokka and Zuko "well, honestly its probably a similar story to mr princey over there"

Zuko tensed "how do you know who I am... and you don't know how I got this"

"I do" Aang said with his hand raised "well, kinda, I think it was your da- mphf!" Zuko shut Aang up with his hands on his mouth

"Shut up, now is not about me or how I got my scar, its about short stack over there"

"Shortstack!? Okay, now that was just rude. But I got this burn from my dad, he wasn't great and had no position to even justify his abuse against me and my mom." He brought his hand to his necklace with a small frown

"He caught me hanging out by a small pond with an earth boy named Haru and was convinced I was a traitor for doing so. He lectured be when he got me home by slamming me against the door and burning me"

he looked up to Tarren and Lily "I didn't tell you, and I always hid my scar because I'm scared hes going to find me again, after he left for the war my mom fell ill and died, so I ran away to my Pappy and he's sick right now so I don't know how long I have with his protection." He gave a sigh "I dont want him to find me and know that you two are my soulmates because he'll hurt you to get to me. And I cant let you get hurt..."

Lily put her hand on her chest with a frown "I'm sorry Kurt, I had no idea. But now that we know I hope you understand we won't let anyone hurt you or us."

"And that includes me" Fin said from the doorway "you've got two master earthbenders and a vigilante assassin on your side now"

"Woah, woah, vigilante assassin?" Toph piped up "Lily is an assassin!? That's so cool!" She marched right up to her and jabbed her finger in her direction "I dont know you too much but I do know that I like you!"

Lily flushed a bright red and rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly "hah, thanks? Wait are you a beifong?"

"Sure am!"

"I didnt know the beifongs had a daughter, let alone a daughter teaching the avatar earthbending" Lily said with a smile

"Yeah, well they didn't think I was strong enough because I cant read" Toph gave a shrug

"I could teach you sometime" Lily offered

"Im blind missy" Toph said with a cackle

"I know" Lily giggled "We have Braille books, I can teach you to read braille if you want to"

"Braille?"

"Instead of ink on the pages there are raised dots in patterns to make the letters, numbers and words, Fin and his wife managed to invent it ten years ago because Fin's best friend is blind and he wanted to send him letters, but it isn't too popular yet sadly"

Toph stood there for a moment before saying anything "wait... are you telling me there's a way I can read?"

"Yeah! Its more commonly on paper but Tarren and Fin use earthbending to write it out much faster on stone tablets, its much less wasteful. But for nonbenders like myself thats not really an option, so I write with the paper and the pressing tools."

Sokka piped into the conversation with a quick jump to his feet "can you teach me too? I want to know how to write in a way that she can read" he had a determined look on his face and sound in his voice that caught everyone off guard

"I... didnt realize you cared?" Katara said with a confused look

"Of course I care Katara! I probably care too much sometimes, I care about every single one of you," he looked around "did... did you really think I didnt care?"

Aang looked at Katara and then at Sokka "she probably only thought that because you show care differently than her, I know you care, I mean you've managed to keep us all together and solve our problems, youre a uh... solve it kinda care... if thats a type"

Everyone looked at Aang befote Lily gave a small laugh "you sound like Fin, he's really caring for sure but you have to understand him to notice his love language." Lily paused "but teaching you both will take a while, even just teaching Toph here, who I assume has never been taught anything about letters and words on pages. I'm guessing you lot are traveling to stop the war?"

"You bet!" Aang said with a cheeky grin

"Well you could easily travel with them and teach them all, you and Tarren both" Kurt suggested

"Im not going anywhere without you" Lily said whil jabbing a finger towards him and leaning down close to him "I promised to protect you, and I will"

"Then how about you all come with us! We can all learn braille! I mean I'm already teaching Aang waterbending, Toph is teaching Aang earthbending. And hopefully Zuko and Iroh will teach him firebending so a new writing language should be good for all of us!" Katara said with excitement clear in her voice

It only took a bit of convincing to have Kurt join but it took a good 20 minutes worth of convincing Fin to let Tarren and Lily travel around while Fin ran the library with the help of Jin who stepped up to take over the pairs roles in the library.

But before leaving Lily showed Sokka the braille pressing tools so he could get a quick idea of the way they worked before packing up a good amount of paper and tools so she could teach them. On the road. Tarren would help Toph with hers for stone given they're both earthbenders.

Once they started packing up their own belongings Toph walked into Lily's room with a small knock "hey, you almost ready petty steps?"

"Pretty steps? Uh, yeah I just have to find a good place to put this" she moved her hand a bit with a wooden mask facing up

"What is that?"

"Its my assassin mask, its got a white base, think warm wind. Two black marks, think of cold night ponds stretching from the side tips of her nose, above the brow bone and getting much thicker before going up and becoming two horns. The eye holes and the lips are both dark red, think of the warmth of a summer evening sunset."

Toph stood in the doorway "I didnt need the description but that kind of makes colors interesting"

"Really?"

"No"

The two laughed at the bluntness but then Lily shrugged "I guess your right, I didnt need to describe it, but I wanted to anyways" she held the mask for a second before packing it away "it's from my sisters favorite spirit fable. 'Lady of the sunset pond' she had my mama read it to us every night" Lily reached to her necklace and held the roght ash stone.

"Sounds like they hold a special place to you"

"Yeah, they do"

"What happened to them?" Toph asked while leaning against the wall

"We don't have the time to unwrap another story today" Lily gave a small laugh while she set her bag down "besides I need to change before we go, can't leave in a work uniform you know, not really meant for traveling" she moved towards Toph and gave a small bow "thank you for accepting to learn braille from me"

Toph smiled shortly but then punched Lily's arm earning a confused 'ow' to which she responded "thats how I show affection"

"Ah, thats an interesting way to show it" Lily laughed "now I best be getting changed, mind stepping out? I know you see with earthbending, I've seen Tarren train without sight before so I can recognize it"

Toph laughed and stepped out "whatever Pretty steps"

Once everyone was changed and packed they all let on loading up Appa and preparing to fly to the next place. The ragtag group of 4 traumatized kids was suddenly a ragtag group of 8 traumatized kids and 2 wise old men traveling on a flying bison with a small mischievous lemur. What a busy two days huh?

[baekhypnotized]

☆— [four]

summary: Baekhyun is just a man who doesn’t believe in romance as much as Byul, who is trying to give herself to him. But day by day, he will soon realize that her fleeting actions are breaking down his cold-hearted brick wall, no matter if it takes her a million years.

warning(s): -

word count: 4.1k+

author’s note: please let me know what you guys think about this chapter!! if you would want to be tagged for next update, do tell me!! enjoy reading :)

tag list: @iloveagain​ @xlxbaekhyuneex​​ @catboyseni​

 <<[prev] || [next]]>> 

As promised, I come to the cafe early to pass the keys to Senior Hana. I offer to help her with the opening procedure which includes setting up the coffee machine and displaying desserts, so it would be easier for my other colleagues to start their work in the morning. Ever since last night, Baekhyun hasn’t replied to my text, up until now. I’m just hoping he wouldn’t forget our discussion that we had agreed on last night because I don’t want to screw any of my plans for today.  

I make myself a serving of chicken sandwich and a cup of latte for breakfast while waiting for him. At least I can kill time before he arrives. Having done preparing my breakfast, I bring the tray and sit at the table by the window, at his usual spot. I devour the sandwich while watching the customers enter the cafe once Senior Hana opens the cafe for business. They must be the type of people who needs caffeine in order to start their day.

My phone rings, signalling a new notification. I put down my sandwich and grab the device. Finally, it’s a text from Baekhyun. 

[Baekhyun]: I just woke up from my sleep. Am I late?

[Byul]: No you’re not. It’s 10:10 in the morning and you still have time.

[Byul]: Don’t rush yourself because I can wait for you though.

[Baekhyun]: Nah, I hate making a woman wait for me so I’ll be there soon.

[Byul]: Drive safe, Baekhyun.

[Byul]: I don’t want to meet you only with one hand.

[Baekhyun]: Haha, funny. Anyway, good morning.

[Byul]: Good morning :)

A wide smile is plastered across my face after replying to his texts. His replies are always so cute to me. I lock my phone and put it on the table before continuing to munch my sandwich and enjoying my hot latte. I love how today’s morning is peaceful with only a few people walking pass by the cafe. I’m also quite grateful that the class is cancelled. 

I bet Soomin is still sleeping soundly on her bed as I don’t know any of her plans today. She might go out for shopping with Sehun or prefer to stay at home and watch Netflix. The differences between us are pretty visible. Soomin was born into a wealthy family, whereas I came from a humble background. My parents were divorced and my dad just went missing after the separation. My mom, on the other hand, decided to remarry. Even though Soomin and I came from different backgrounds, I’m still grateful that we are friends, because more often than not, we complete each other with our opposite personalities.

Suddenly, I get startled by a few knocks on the window that I accidentally smudge the sandwich across my cheek, leaving a streak of mayonnaise. I turn my head towards the cause of my surprise and is met with Baekhyun, the man is giggling to himself watching my funny reaction. I roll my eyes and pick up tissue to wipe the smudge off as he enters the cafe and joins me.

"Sorry I’m late,” Baekhyun apologies and I shake my head, telling him it’s fine as my mouth is full with the sandwich. He realises that I’m busy eating my sandwich. It makes him chuckle. 

I quickly swallow the food in my mouth and ask him, “Have you had your breakfast?”

"My breakfast is coffee,” he answers and I nod my head. Once I finish eating my sandwich, I grab my cup of latte and sip it slowly, feeling uncomfortable with the sight of Baekhyun watching me.

I pull away from the cup, “Why? Is there any problem?” I ask.

"I want a cup of latte that you make,” he says. I scoff after hearing his request. 

"Really, Byun Baekhyun? All the latte tastes the same!”

"But not yours,” Baekhyun grins widely, showing his white teeth. I sigh in surrender and stand up from my seat. He passes the money to me and I roll my eyes at him, causing him to chuckle. Heading back to the counter, I key in his order into the system and prepare his latte only in a few minutes. I use my skills to draw an angry emoji at his latte as a sign of revenge. As I head back to the table, Baekhyun has his legs crossed while he’s busy scrolling his phone.

I place the cup in front of me before settling down in my seat. “Baekhyun, your latte is there,” I inform him but he does not move any inches. I release a scoff while taking out my laptop from my bag. I don’t even know why he seems surprised to see that I’m back from making his latte.

"Yeay!” He beams. “Thank you, Hanbyul,” Baekhyun continues as he displays a sly grin to me before lifting the cup from the saucer plate and sips it. 

I ignore him this time, rolling my eyes to the back of my head. Without wasting any time, I turn on my laptop for the discussion, expecting Baekhyun might need some time before he is done with his breakfast.

"Do you bring your laptop? Or any notebook to jot down?” I ask him and he replies with a nod. He finishes up his latte and begins to prepare himself for our first discussion by taking out his laptop. 

After we reassure ourselves ready to begin the discussion, both of us starts by reading the statement and question given by our lecturer. Baekhyun looks smart when he shares his opinions regarding this project. I suddenly remember the first time we met at the cafe, he wore a fancy suit to order a coffee and I assume he's someone who already got himself a job. Because right now,  Baekhyun looks like a professional, like someone who is a master in this course. Maybe, there is a reason why he decided to further his study in the Master of Business Administration.

Throughout our discussion, Baekhyun contributes more in giving his ideas. At the same time, I list down every point that we need to add or do research before starting the assignment. His hand gestures when explaining the details manages to distract my focus from the topic which causing me to keep on staring at it. Baekhyun’s long and slender fingers, hands with a few visible veins popping out shows his masculine side. His attractive silver wristwatch positioned on his left wrist gives an extra point. 

"Hey, missy. Are you lost in your dreams?” Baekhyun snaps his fingers right in front of my face that cause me to jump in surprise in my spot.  

"I’m sorry. Where are we again?” I tighten my grip around the pen as I lift my head to look at his face. Baekhyun chuckles at the astonishment on my face. 

"Let’s continue this, huh?” He suggests and I reply with a hum. Baekhyun shakes his head, probably remembering my face when I was spacing out while he was talking. I admit, my face looks funny.  Biting my lower lip as I try to forget that embarrassing moment, I continue to listen to his explanations diligently.  

After spending hours at the table, I realised it’s already passed at 12 o'clock noon. We were too busy up until we didn’t have the time to even hold the discussion for a rest. Baekhyun already looks exhausted when he rests his back by the backrest. I turn off my laptop and keep it back in my bag, gathering all the used cups and saucer plates to bring it back to the kitchen. 

"Tired, Baekhyun?” I ask him.

"Kinda, my brain isn't working good now,” he expresses. 

I snort softly. “Now, you can go home and rest. I need to get ready for my next shift at 2. Great job for today.” Getting off from my seat, I carry the cups and plates to the kitchen. 

But before I get to move, Baekhyun calls. “Hanbyul.” I turn around to face him with a curious look.

"About our date,” He stops for a second, “can you empty your schedule for this Saturday? I’ve booked a restaurant for dinner. We can go anywhere you want before that, if you want to.” Baekhyun speaks. My heart drops for a second when he mentions the date.I thought he had forgotten about it, not expecting him to be serious about his invitation the other day.

I think of the plans I might have for the day, hoping I will be able to clear it for the date. “Yeah, sure.” I give him an answer, remembering that I am free on that day. Baekhyun beams brightly upon hearing it. 

He keeps all his stuff in his bag while I wait for him. Baekhyun gets ready to leave as he plasters a soft smile on his face. 

"I’ll see you this Saturday, then?” He confirms back as I nod. Baekhyun comes closer to me and gives one last smile before he leaves the cafe without turning back. I swear, my heart is about to jump out of my chest at that moment.

Baekhyun doesn’t text or talk to me after the day we met for the discussion. We didn’t encounter each other by chance either since our Friday’s class was also cancelled by the lecturer. Now I am pacing around in my room on Saturday. I’ve done all the chores in the house today, from doing the laundry to washing the dishes and mopping the floor. I am determined to free my schedule today just for the date. But, I’m not sure if it’s going to be happening at this rate. I don’t have the guts to text him. 

I even refuse Soomin’s invitation to go to the mall because I was waiting for him. In the end, she leaves the house with Sehun and I hope he will cheer her up. I’ve been scrolling my Instagram last night and I encountered his account that practically got me to sit up abruptly from my lying position. 

Indeed, he’s not the type of guy who loves to post pictures of himself. Most of the pictures were random scenery and I found them aesthetic. Maybe, he just doesn’t like to share about his life and somehow, I think it suits his personality. 

Baekhyun is a mysterious guy.

My desire to get to know him, every side of him is getting stronger day by day. He’s… irresistible. There is something different about Baekhyun, something that he hides deeper, away from everyone else. I’m sure it’ll take me some time to figure him out.

Finally, my phone rings after a few hours sitting in silence. I literally run to get to the phone. When I check the notification, a grin makes its way to my face. It’s really him! Like finally! Unlocking the phone, I open the text with a click. 

[Baekhyun]: Hey, miss me? 

I chuckle. Baekhyun is really an annoying guy, expecting that I will be missing him. 

I don’t miss him. I’m just expecting his text. That’s all. 

[Byul]: Ha ha. Obviously not, Byun Baekhyun.

[Baekhyun]: Ouch. That hurts.

[Byul]: Serve you right. So, why are you texting me?

[Baekhyun]: You must’ve forgotten our date tonight, huh?

I thought you’re the one who forgets it, Baekhyun.

[Byul]: Date? What date?

[Baekhyun]: Stop playing around, Hanbyul.

[Baekhyun]: I’ll pick you up at your house if you’re okay with it.

[Byul]: My house? But, I can go by myself to the restaurant.

[Byul]: No worries.

[Baekhyun]: Hanbyul, it’s unpleasant to let a woman go by her own for the date.

[Baekhyun]: I’ll pick you up at 8. Send me your address later.

[Byul]: Okay then…

[Baekhyun]: See you.

[Baekhyun]: And I’m expecting a real address.

I text him the address of my apartment before he replies to me with a curt 'okay'. Looking at the clock, I realize I still have a few hours left before the date. I stand in front of my wardrobe, staring at the few dresses that I have hanging in it. Going through some dresses, I sigh realizing I don't have any dresses that could be suitable to wear on a first date. He did mention about booking a restaurant so I figured he wouldn't bring me to somewhere I can simply wear my ordinary dresses. After contemplating between a royal blue coloured dress and a black dress for more than a few minutes, I decided to settle with a wine-coloured dress. The dress is short but it ends nicely above my knees. I then take my bath and get myself ready despite having an hour left till 8. I choose to put on natural shades make-up before putting on my dress. Finally, I style my hair with my hair curler and let them fall loose on my shoulders.

I inform Soomin about going out, omitting the fact that I'm going out for dinner with Baekhyun. As usual, she tells me to take care of myself, to not come back too late and to call her if anything happens. I agree with all of the things she told me and tell her to have fun with Sehun. She must be having a splendid day with her boyfriend. I envy her.

When the hands on the clock move to 10 minutes before 8, I receive a text from Baekhyun.

[Baekhyun]: I'm almost there. You can come out now.

It’s time. I bring my purse together with me when leaving the house. Riding the lift to the ground level, my heart couldn’t bring itself to pump normally. I wait for him at the entrance, my toes curling in anticipation. A few minutes later, a familiar black car stops right in front of me. 

The driver rolls down the window, peeking his head from the inside, “Hop in, Hanbyul.”

I take a deep breath before getting into the passenger seat, buckling myself up. Baekhyun watches me settling down and when I turn to look at him, I was awestruck. The car may be dark right now but his charming look is visible.

"Ready to go?” He asks as I nod my head. Baekhyun presses the pedal and drives the car to our destination. Believe me, I just stay still like I used to, fingers gripping tightly around the seatbelt. The urge to look at him, the way he drives, is strong but I fight the desire. I realise he is stealing a few glances at me that makes me blush quietly.

We finally arrive at the restaurant after nearly half an hour. As expected, he brings me to fancy, and most probably, expensive restaurant. I follow Baekhyun from behind as the waiter brings us to the private room that he had reserved for us. He helps me pull my chair out, letting me take my seat before he does and I thank him softly. Baekhyun only replies to me with a smile, as sweet and charming as ever.

The waiter hands out the menu and I get surprised seeing the prices that make me gulp. Baekhyun must have saw me reacting to them as he chuckles softly. 

"Would anything be okay for you? Any allergies or requests?” He asks concernedly.

"Yeah… I’m okay with anything.”

"Good. I’ll order the same thing as usual,” Baekhyun tells the waiter before he leaves the room, leaving me and Baekhyun alone.

"So… how are you?” Baekhyun initiates the talk first. 

"I’m fine, as you can see. How about you, Baekhyun?"

"Quite busy handling something.” He replies. My mouth turns into an ‘O’ shape and we both get into silence again. I’m so nervous to look at him straight into the eyes and at the same time, I just don’t know what topic should we talk.

"Hey," he calls, making me lift my head up to face him. "You're usually so talkative at the cafe, why are you being quiet now?" He muses, followed by an amused grin.

"Baekhyun, how old are you?” I ask after contemplating for a few seconds. 

"28. Do I look too old?” He questions me back and I chuckle with a shake of my head. 

"I’m 2 years younger than you,” I confess.

"Yeah, I can see that.” He chuckles huskily this time.

A waiter comes into our room with a bottle of wine, pouring it into our glasses. I thank him politely before continuing the conversation. 

"Regarding our assignment, when do you want to proceed? Are you free after we have our classes or—” 

"Hanbyul, can we talk about anything else aside from the project?” He orders. My breathing stops for a second, hearing him speak in such a serious tone. I bring my head down to look at the table, fiddling with the napkin as I try to think of another topic to converse.

"How about you tell me about yourself? Maybe your family or anything?” I purse my lips together, waiting for his answer. Baekhyun smirks slightly, fixing his sitting posture.

"My family isn’t interesting at all. Let’s talk about yours. Shall we?" Baekhyun taps his fingers while staring at me with the same smirk. My stomach is about to flip all over because he's making me nervous with that look. I take a glass of wine and drink it slowly, tasting the alcoholic drink that is foreign in my throat. The wine somehow causes me to make weird facial expressions and I guess, Baekhyun sees it. Because he laughs softly.

"Does it taste weird?" He asks with concern.

"Kinda but it's tolerable. Thank you for asking," I reply. At least, the wine can calm my nerves after being so nervous in front of him. Baekhyun plasters a smile before he drinks his wine, waiting for me to start telling him about myself. I take the opportunity of the silence between us to calm myself down.

"So… here it goes.” I start telling him about my background honestly. I tell him about me being an only child with divorced parents; my dad disappeared since then, while my mom got the full custody of me. A few years after the divorce, she remarried another guy, my current stepfather and decided to move in with him at New Orleans. I also have an older stepbrother named Suho. Suho is two years older than Baekhyun.

"Don’t ask me whether he has a girlfriend or not because he hasn’t talked about it with me,” I warn Baekhyun. He only chuckles to my statement and asks me to proceed with the story.

It goes on from my life in New Orleans, with my new family. He listens to me diligently while waiting for our main courses to arrive. I tell him the reason I’m continuing my studies and it’s because I would love to run my own business. But, would definitely apply for a job at any company once I graduate from this post-graduate study. 

"So, you’re telling me that you work at the cafe to pay for your study?” Baekhyun asks once he sips the wine as I nod my head slowly. 

"I applied for a loan for my study because I had to,” I confess with a soft tone. Realising how tough my life is when I’m trying to be an independent person for my own future. I may belong to a modest family but I have been told by my mom that living without trying to achieve one's dream are useless.

Baekhyun hums. Finally, our meals arrive on time and I am glad for the distraction because I couldn’t bring myself to tell him more about my struggling life. He thanks the waitress that served us the food before she leaves the room. We’re having steaks for dinner tonight. 

"Let’s eat, shall we?” He says and I smile. Both of us start to devour the juicy and thick steaks as I leave myself stupefied with the rich taste of the meat. It’s really scrumptious and no wonder it's one hella expensive food at a 5-star restaurant. 

Baekhyun notices my reaction as he asks, “How does it taste? Good?” 

I bob my head up and down, carrying on to eat. He seems happy watching me eating so well as a wide smile appears across his face. Baekhyun gives me one last glance before he continues to eat. 

"How about you? What made you decide to continue into this course?” I blurt out, asking him a question.

"Well, I want to expand my knowledge in business. Who knows, I might be given the opportunity to handle a big one, one fine day,” he stops, making eye contact with me. I just bob my head a few times as a sign I’m listening to his explanation. 

The conversations go on and on, but the difference is the awkwardness between both of us has vanished. Baekhyun literally tells lame jokes but it’s still funny when he expresses it. It manages to make me almost choke myself while eating. 

Those crescent eyes, bulging cheeks and endearing smile when he smiles caught my attention. It’s a good view to be able to witness his another side apart from his manliness. Manliness was my first impression of him when he stepped into the cafe with a well-tailored suit. Not to mention, the way he talks and behaves, he must be a great person to befriend with. 

We have chocolate lava cakes for dessert. Baekhyun has been asking my favourite flavour as I answer him, “Chocolate. How about you?”

"Strawberry flavour. Gosh, I’m willing to eat them 24/7 rather than kill myself with cucumbers.” Baekhyun explains.

I scoff while giving him an unbelievable look. “You don’t like cucumbers?”

"It’s not just I don’t like it. I hate it.” Baekhyun replies with a serious tone that makes me giggle. He may look like a sulking boy right in front of me, eating the lava cake with a slight pout.  

"Come on, Baekhyun. It’s just a cucumber and delicious too when you eat just like that.” I give him my own opinion.

"Na-ah! Still, I hate it.” He retorts with a scowl on his face. I chuckle lightly and eat the lava cake. Suddenly, his phone rings loudly. He digs out his phone from his pocket and looks at the dialler. Instead of answering it, he lets the rings continue as he silent his phone. 

"You can answer the call, Baekhyun. I don’t mind at all, it might be important.” 

"It’s okay. Not important at all,” he says. “Let’s finish this up and then I’ll send you home, okay?” I hum and continue to eat quietly in my seat. I’m curious about the caller because the phone is still ringing and vibrating as he places his phone on the table. It does look like it’s important but he insists to ignore it so I am left to wonder quietly on my own.

Baekhyun pays for dinner and we go straight to my apartment with silence lingering in the car. Without having any courage to initiate the talk, I decide to stare at the window, looking at the Moon shining brightly in the dark sky. There aren't many stars tonight, only the Moon decorating the lonely night sky. The journey to my apartment is short, basically, he drifts the car at the empty road swiftly like a professional. When we arrive in front of the lobby, he offers to help me get out of the car by opening the door and lending his hand. Which successfully makes my cheeks go red. 

"Thanks for tonight and the wonderful dinner, Baekhyun,” I thank him politely.

"No problem. Rest well and I’ll see you on Monday,” he says and I nod my head. Baekhyun gets back into his car, rolling down the window and bidding the last goodbye before he leaves. I sigh in relief, grateful at the same time for the great time I spent with him tonight. 

I head straight home quietly without making any noises to avoid awakening Soomin who is probably sleeping in her room. After taking a quick shower, I hop on my bed, staring at the ceiling. I reminisce the moment I had with him. It’s almost 11 pm when my phone receives a notification and I bet it’s from Baekhyun.

[Baekhyun]: Asleep already?

[Byul]: Nope. Have you arrived at your home yet?

[Baekhyun]: I’m dropping by somewhere because I promised someone to meet tonight.

[Byul]: Oh… I see.

[Baekhyun]: Hanbyul, I forget to tell you something.

[Byul]: What is it? 

Baekhyun doesn't reply to my question straight away that leaves me curious on my own. I decide to switch off the lights and gets ready to sleep when suddenly my phone rings again. I unlock it and look at the text. That text manages to make my heart and my mind has gone crazy when I read it.

[Baekhyun]: You look amazing in that dress, Hanbyul.

[Baekhyun]: Goodnight and sweet dreams, beautiful.

[brokasteltranslations]

Fate/Requiem: Chapter 4

Several days had passed since I had been relieved of my duties as the Reaper. No more work had come in from my master, Caren Fujimura, since the Kundry case, and I no longer received information on a preferential basis over the municipal network. I had been barred from the critical point where the Akihabara district barrier was located, and my access to Kanda Shrine and Yushima Temple, where multiple ley lines converged, had also been restricted. Stripped of my rank and duties, I was nothing more than another truant – and one dragging a nameless, powerless, useless Servant in tow to boot. A lone wolf not even worth employing as a guard dog.

Fortunately, Akihabara was a prime tourist destination, and as long as I wore my usual swimwear and windbreaker I would more or less blend in with the usual clientele. However, that did nothing to help me feel less out-of-place. Whatever I did, I just felt like running away and hiding in a hole.

I had received no more information on the Command Seal Hunter. It was worrying that the case had not yet been publicly acknowledged. My gut told me that it had not been quietly solved and faded away. It was merely biding its time.

Whispers of the “Woman with the Missing Hand” circulated Shibuya. It had become something of an urban legend among students.

Don't you know better than to cut that out? Keep repeating it and it'll become real, and then who'll have to deal with it? It'll be... actually, I suppose it won't be me. Not any more.

----

As a consequence of my newly-imposed freedom, I had taken to wandering the town aimlessly with Pran on a daily basis. Wherever we went, we found faint traces of Chitose's presence. It crossed my mind more than once to quit Akihabara for one of the other wards.

–

There were many things that seemed to draw Pran's interest, but over time I started to notice a broad pattern. It was live experiences that he seemed to enjoy - street performers, buskers, speed painters and the like were what most often caught his eye.

Thinking back to the episode with Kuchime, I tried taking him along to a shop geared towards those 'otaku'. It was crammed to the rafters with endless figurines of buxom girls, male-oriented toys and all manner of merchandise, to the point where I was almost sick of looking at it. However, none of it particularly seemed to resonate with him.

Maybe it's because they're all manufactured goods. Perhaps it's originality that appeals to him?

He stood by, a little sleepily, gazing into the distance as though squinting into the sun, watching faraway strangers. Only when we passed a shop selling astronomical telescopes did he exhibit a different reaction. He squatted down in front of a poster of the planets – clearly not hand-made – and stayed there for well over a minute.

“Do you know Jupiter?”

“This eye... it follows me.”

“Eye? Oh, you mean the Great Red Spot?”

“This planet's so big. It's so big...”

He shivered, then pulled the goggles resting over his head down over his eyes, and peered at the poster once more.

“A planet, huh? I'm surprised you know that word.” Had he picked it up from when I read The Little Prince to him? He had initially talked about coming from somewhere far away – perhaps he wasn't just making it up? Or maybe... no, was that even possible?

I chose my words carefully. “That's a very old photograph. From before the war. The Great Red Spot on Jupiter isn't there any more. It got smaller and smaller, and then it disappeared.”

He smiled gently at the poster.

“Maybe it went to sleep. I hope someone comes to wake it up.”

–

Before I knew it, the day of the Grail Tournament had arrived. I hadn't exactly been waiting with bated breath, but still I found myself in front of the Colosseum.

The colossal stadium was located on the outskirts of Akihabara, bordering the ocean. Its enormous silhouette threatened to overwhelm the surrounding cityscape. Towering arches, each easily the size of a skyscraper, rose high in three, four levels to form the thick exterior of the cylindrical structure and enclose the arena within.

This was a place of pure competition. The poets once spoke of the ancient Roman emperors giving their people bread and circuses; here was the circus reborn for the modern age, the manifestation of the people's right to entertainment.

–

I had ended up accompanied to the Colosseum by Pran and Karin. Koharu had, to my great chagrin, seen fit to furnish me with not one, not two, but a whole four reserved tickets – two Master-Servant pairs. Technically Servants had no need for tickets – after all, they could just assume their spiritual forms – but no-one willing to come to see the Grail Tournament in person could reasonably be refused a seat, and they were provided in pairs as a matter of course. That being said...

“How long's it been?”

It had been twenty minutes since the stadium had opened, and we were still waiting.

Enormous lines snaked from each and every one of the Colosseum's myriad entrances. At this rate, the tournament would probably have started before we got to our seats. Personally I hardly minded, but it must have bothered Karin, because she suddenly yelled out at the top of her voice.

“All right, fine! Flake out on me, see if I care! We're going in, you hear?”

“You really want to go in? You sure you don't want to wait a bit longer?” I did my best to keep my voice neutral.

“Damn right I'm sure! Never should've invited you anyway, you lousy no-show son of a...”

None of her messages had prompted a response, it seemed.

–

The individual keeping us waiting was the weary-looking guitar player, Kuchime.

Unsure what exactly to do with my four tickets, I had decided to start by offering them to people I knew. Karin herself had snatched the chance with typical zeal, but her partner Kouyou had been reluctant to join us, leaving me with one left over. However, a few days later the two of us had happened to stumble across Kuchime in a side-street in Akihabara, strumming away with his usual gloomy air and being flatly ignored by every passer-by. Karin had called out, probably taking pity on him.

“Hey, Kuchime, was it? Ever thought of checking out the Grail Tournament? Maybe the halftime show'll give you some tips on how not to make your customers run a mile.”

“Ain't got no need for that, little missy. I'm happy as long as I'm getting' through to people with ears to hear.”

“Think you're some kinda auteur, huh? Keep dreaming, idiot. Why don't you just go the whole way and die young while you're at it!”

I had watched blankly as she exploded at him unprovoked. Her tirade had ended with her snatching the ticket from my hands and thrusting it squarely into his unshaven face. Had she done it in a spontaneous surge of pity for this dishevelled musician, or had she been planning it all along? I may have been the Reaper, but even I wasn't so insensitive as to probe any further.

However, in the end, the chance she had taken came to nothing. She stalked towards the arena, fuming. I followed her, leading Pran by the hand.

–

Eventually, we arrived at our designated seats. The interior of the Colosseum was spacious, tall, and delightfully modern.

I now understood why the queues today had been particularly bad: the staff were conducting unusually extensive baggage checks and body searches on all attendees. I had even seen staff members flagging down particular individuals for Command Seal checks, and it was hard not to notice the guns at the hips of a number of security personnel dotted around the stadium.

I'm glad they didn't try to check my Command Seals. Maybe the reservations got us through...

In any case, it was gratifying to see that my warning to Hannibal hadn't gone unheeded. Although there was always the possibility that the organisers had gotten wind of the serial killings themselves, and acted of their own accord.

“Yo! Sorry we took so long.” Karin reappeared with Pran in tow. Both of their arms were piles high with soft drinks, packets of peanuts and other junk food. She tossed me a freshly-grilled hot dog.

“So this is the bread part, huh? Shouldn't be long until the circu- Yeowch! Aah! My tongue!”

“Circus? You mean the halftime show, right? Oh yeah, there was a stall selling some kinda porridge too if you want some. I tapped out though, seemed pretty weird.”

“Porridge, huh? How odd... Hey, who gave you those?!”

I suddenly registered Pran was decked from head to toe in tournament merchandise, complete with a little paper cap and a megaphone. He was ready for the show.

I couldn't stop myself from bursting out laughing, and soon both me and Karin were clutching our sides. She was so engrossed in the tournament now that it was hard to imagine she had been furious not twenty minutes ago. I could probably learn a lot from how quickly she rebounded.

Next to our seats on the very front row was a space to be kept open in case of emergencies. Fortunately, it was just large enough for Kouyou to squeeze in. Accommodating larger Servants was probably half of the reason it was there.

–

After a minute or so, the music playing throughout the stadium increased in volume and a rousing melody began to play. It seemed we'd timed our arrival perfectly.

The music faded away, and for a moment, the entire arena fell silent. Then, as if on cue, a voice rang out across the stadium. Below us, eldritch lights began to dance across the very front row where the patricii would have sat in the original Colosseum. A diminutive figure strode down to the aisle, and unfurled a pair of feathered wings. At the same time, the main screen cut to a close-up of a girl - a woman? - dressed in a plain white Grecian tunic.

“Good evening, my lovely little piglets!” Her greeting echoed around the Colosseum at amplified volume. “Welcome, one and all, to the ocean stage of the Grail Tournament! That's right! We're all setting sail for Okeanos, and I, the great witch Circe, will be your guide!”

She stoked the crowd's excitement, and they answered with a deafening roar… although I did pick up some rather crude jeers mixed in with the cheering.

“Thank you, thank you, my little piglets! I love you too! Now, before we meet all our brave warriors, I'd like to introduce our commentary team!”

Two burly men strode down the aisle to join her, waving to the audience.

“First, for the Ottoman Corsairs, we have a scallywag among scallywags! The Gentleman of the Caribbean! The one and only Blackbeard, Edward Teach!”

“That's me!” Blackbeard was greeted by deafening boos. He did not seem to care a jot.

“Sounds like you know him well! Let's move swiftly on!”

“Wait, that's all I get?!”

“Next, for the Carthaginian Alliance, we have the king of admirals! The man who saved the Roman Empire from the Ptolemaic Dynasty! Friend and advisor to Emperor Augustus, I give you Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa!”

Agrippa! The commander who led the Romans to victory at the Battle of Actium!

I expected him to bask in the applause of the crowd, but instead he rounded on the emcee.

“What is this? I never agreed to this! First you invite me to attend nigh on midnight last night, and now you expect me to commentate?! Explain yourself!”

“About that... Honestly, we wanted Eukleides of Alexandria, but he cancelled at the last moment. What are Foreigners like, right?”

“Some nerve on you, girl! You expect a general of Rome to commentate on the Carthaginians? And you! Yes, you, the Servant with the easel! You think capturing my face is funny, do you?!”

The sight of the irate Agrippa slowly being talked down by the witch emcee, and eventually taking a reluctant seat at the commentator's desk, drew no small amount of laughter from the audience.

“All right, everyone, make sure you have your channels all set to your favourite team! If you're feeling peckish, why not try some delicious kykeon?”

–

“Well, that sure was something.”

Karin was grinning next to me. I, for my part, was aghast. This was grotesque, a vulgar display that made a mockery of Servants' pride and nobility. It was difficult to tell how much was real and how much was acted, but the tastelessness of the ambiguity only made me feel more disgusted. The tournament itself hadn't even begun yet, and I had a feeling it was only going to get worse.

I guess the least I can do is watch it through. I probably won't be getting another chance.

My reasons for being here were twofold. Firstly, I wanted to see what I could learn about Koharu's mysterious Possession ability. I had also been deeply impressed by the way that, despite being aware of her naivety, she disapproved wholeheartedly of any wrongdoing, and the evident admiration with which she viewed her companions.

My second reason was that I wanted to see for myself the incredible power that Servants were permitted to wield here. I felt both awe and terror for Noble Phantasms. It was baffling to me that abilities so destructive might be allowed to be used freely.

The citizens of Mosaic City were different to Masters in the true sense. They were no magi, with magic circuits passed down from previous generations or developed through special training, and it went without saying that none of them possessed a Magic Crest. The mana that powered their magecraft originated from the Holy Grail, and was distributed throughout the city via ley-lines. This mana was more than enough to sustain a Servant in everyday life with no discomfort. However Noble Phantasms, which employed magecraft on a much larger scale and consumed vast amounts of mana, were another matter entirely. Activating them was highly challenging, and they could kill a Master unless attempted with extreme care.

Broadly speaking, the most common foes I encountered in my work were Masters who fought with little regard for their own lives, because they had found something they valued more.

Had the combatants in this Colosseum all reined their latent magical abilities to extraordinary levels? Or had the footage I had seen simply been enhanced in some way after the fact? I had come to determine the truth.

“Oh, there you are, Kouyou.”

In the formerly empty space in the midst of the cheering crowd, the enormous bulk of the Ogress had appeared. She sat with her belly pressed to the ground, trying to make herself as small as possible. Occasionally her eyes glanced sideways to meet with Pran's.

–

Feeling a little relieved, I turned back to the arena. The battlefield was enormous: a huge rectangular arena, two hundred metres on the larger side. Above each of the spectator seats floated semi-transparent screens that provided a closer view of the action.

Finally, the battlefield began to change. Cracks ran across the centre, and the stage began to fold in on itself with mechanical precision, forming a deep, wide basin. Water swirled in to fill it, and rocks rose from beneath its surface to form a maze of crags in the open water. Two galleys burst from the canals at either side of the stage, defying the current. They hung in the air for a second, like salmon poised mid-leap above a waterfall, and then crashed down into the water below with a mighty splash. A host of smaller boats and schooners followed them out, and quickly organised themselves into two fleets.

There was no magic in this, only the most cutting-edge stage equipment... although perhaps it was best not to think about the enormous, ominous shadow circling beneath the water's surface.

–

“Now, my little piglets, I think we've kept you waiting long enough! Let's get this naumachia started! We know you're tired of the same-old same-old, so this year we thought we'd change things up a little with a large-scale team-on-team battle! Which of our brave teams in Akihabara today will be crowned the conquerors of the high seas?

“First, we have the Ottoman Corsairs! For these terrors of the Mediterranean Sea, this man once more takes up the rank of Pasha! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the great pirate of Barbary, the Redbeard, Heyreddin Barbarossa!

“And that's not all! Next we have his second-in-command! There's not a man west of Austria who doesn't know his name: the Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay!”

The witch introduced each of the competitors one by one, stoking the crowd's excitement. Illustrious admirals and infamous pirates lined up upon the deck.

“And now, last but not least, someone you know very well! The mightiest commander of the navies of the far east - can you say “Hassou-tobi”? Our favourite natural-born Heike-killer, Minamoto Kurou Yoshitsune!

“Could this samurai be the most dangerous competitor on the field today? I'm sure the other side won't be showing much quarter, so look forward to some spectacular acrobatics!”

–

The pretty young warrior looked a little uncomfortable in responding to chants of “Ushiwaka!”, but eventually gave in and began to wave to the crowd. The sight broke me from my trance, and a young girl standing nearby caught my attention; she hadn't been introduced.

Could that be Yoshitsune's Master?

She was dressed in elegant traditional Japanese robes and heavy facial makeup, matching Yoshitsune, but she herself appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary citizen. Behind or beside the other Servants stood similar unassuming figures. More than a couple of them were wearing masks that obscured their faces.

Eventually, the oriental arrangement of Mozart's Turkish March playing throughout the Colosseum drew to a close, and was replaced with an unsettling, savage, African-style drumbeat. The Grail Tournament was as tasteless as ever.

–

“Now swivel your heads the other way, my adorable piglets! Little corkscrew tails to the east,  and snouts to the west! Please give it up for the mighty heroes of the Carthaginian Alliance!

“Cast your eyes upon Rome's worst nightmare! At his back, the souls of three war elephants with whom he crossed the Pyrenees and the Alps! Ladies and gentlemen, the Lightning Commander, Hannibal Barca!”

The sight of Hannibal, cross-armed on the deck in traditional battle garments, was so wildly different from the garrulous old tourist I had met in Cafe Borges that I could hardly believe it was the same man. The mighty cheer from the crowd put not so much as a crack in his stern expression, and he harboured a menacing aura.

“And not to be outdone, his second-in-command: The Firebrand of Castile, El Cid!”

The witch continued with her introductions, each one punctuated with thunderous applause. I tuned them out. My attention was absorbed by a small figure on the deck, with a white coat draped across her shoulders. I followed her with my augmented vision as she stared keenly into the enemy ranks.

He stood a short distance behind her, head askew, hands on his hips. He seemed devoid of tension, as though this were nothing more than a routine warmup.

“And taking up the rearguard is someone I'm sure you all remember! None other than the warrior who took the Newbie Tournament by storm! Our proud Knight of the Round Table, Sir Galahad!”

–

With the introductions concluded, the galleys began to slip forwards, and each team assembled into their respective formations. Karin rapped on my knee with her megaphone, unable to conceal her excitement.

“I told you it was gonna be awesome! Dunno much about the pirates, but even I know Yoshitsune!”

“You expecting me to be impressed or something? You could hardly call yourself Japanese if you didn’t.”

I could not imagine it would be easy for this collection of pirates, outlaws to the bone that they were, to assimilate cleanly into everyday life in Mosaic City - although, of course, there were exceptions. Perhaps it was for the best that there was a place for them here, where they could put their talents to use while also entertaining the populace. However...

“I know it's just a mock battle, but don't you think this seems really one-sided? The Ottomans are obviously better at sea. Hannibal's famous for his war elephants, but he can't even use them on the water.”

“Haven't been reading up, eh Eri? Here's a flyer for you. See? Says right here the field will change halfway through, and turn into a land battle. There's your Carthaginian advantage.”

“Ah. I get it.” This was never supposed to be a fair battle, but a dramatic turnaround against overwhelming odds. The perfect script to drive the audience wild. I myself had to confess, I was looking forward to seeing Yoshitsune and Galahad face off – so much so that a part of me wished this were a real Holy Grail War.

“Yeah. Now I see.” I gazed around at the nearby spectators with dawning realisation. I felt as though I'd grown a little closer to understanding how these competitors could wield such extraordinary power, and the system that supported them in doing so.

----

“Eh?”

The back of my neck prickled. Someone, somewhere, was watching me.

I slid my gaze slowly around myself, careful not to let my reaction be noticed, but my stalker was impossible to discern through the interference of the crowd around me.

I'm being watched. No doubt about it. There's something else, too. A familiar, maybe?

The Borgia siblings' warning came to mind. Someone I'd previously crossed, out for revenge. As I looked around warily, hoping to forestall some impending attack, I noticed something strange: dotted throughout the crowd were spectators standing motionless, seemingly blind to the excitement around them.

Victims of the Command Seal Hunter? No, that doesn't seem right...

I focused, filtering out the auditory noise, following the sense of wrongness back to its source... and happened to catch a snippet of conversation from the row in front.

“You serious? A fire in Shinjuku?”

“Where? Tsunohazu? Kashiwagi?”

“Seems like it's around Hanazono way.”

Hanazono?

My old house was in Hanazono. Which was to say, Chitose's house was in Hanazono. I leaned forward a little, and stared at the woman in front's phone from over her shoulder.

“Eri, the hell are you doing?”

On the screen was a video someone had uploaded to the municipal network.

“What on earth...?”

A video of a building on fire. In real time.

A row of old wooden houses in Shinjuku wreathed in smoke. A human figure appeared from the billowing grey curtain, aflame from head to toe. However, they did not run or drop to the ground, but continued calmly into the next building, and even as their blood boiled and their skin charred with the flames' caress, began to feed the flames.

The video cut short - interrupted by a new upload of a public train brought to a standstill, flames licking at its roof.

-

As I watched, a buzz of concern began to spread throughout the crowd. It was hardly surprising; there were probably no small number of spectators here from Shinjuku. I turned around to see that Karin, too, was transfixed by her phone.

“What's wrong?”

“They say there's been some kinda 'pedestrian accident' in front of Shibuya station. A tram derailed and went across the cross... Oh. Ew. I'm not looking at that. Trains are stopped too. The hell's going on?”

Simultaneous incidents, all across Mosaic City.

“Ugh...”

I gripped my arm as a dull pain blossomed inside it. The stench of death was agitating the spirits. Black blood oozed out from beneath my hand, as their ire turned on my own body.

Just when I thought I'd gotten them under control...

-

This arena was no longer a place I should be. I was the greatest threat here, to the tens of thousands of spectators present and the partners by their sides. Right now, these simultaneous incidents concerned me.

Security here was tight, and more to the point, greater warriors than I could ever hope to be now thronged the main stage. This was perhaps the safest place in all of Mosaic City. My place was not here – as much as I had wanted to see Koharu fight, I no longer had time to worry about that.

“Eri, wait.”

Karin must have guessed my intentions as soon as I stood up.

“You're going? Just like that? Without me, again?”

“Sorry. I know I invited you out here and everything, but... there's something I need you to do.”

“What is it?”

I stared back at Karin for a moment, then looked down to the boy by her side.

“Kouyou, do you think you could take care of Pran?”

The ogress looked to Karin questioningly, then gave a slow nod.

“Consider it done. Just leave it to us, Eri.” Karin flashed her newly-recovered Command Seals, alongside an irrepressible grin. Just as I made to leave, Karin's phone buzzed with a notification, and she pulled it out.

“Who's texting people at this kinda time?”

She checked the screen and sighed.

“It's that Kuchime asshole. He says “Sorry.””

“That's all?”

“That's all.” She smiled, resignedly and a little sadly.

----

I left the seats behind and made my way to the outer hall. While still indoors, this was an airy, open space, with high arches modelled meticulously after Roman architecture. It extended far away in both directions, curving gently to match the shape of the arena. Shops lined the outer wall, still milling with a fair number of late customers. Here and there people clustered around screens outside the storefronts, drinking as they watched the matches unfold.

What's even the point of coming here?, I thought. You could be doing that at home!

–

As I hurried towards the exit, I organised the idea I'd hit upon earlier in my head: to whit, that the competitors in the Holy Grail Tournament were taking their mana from the crowd itself. Tens of thousands of pseudo-magi, all pouring mana into the Servants doing battle below. That was my hypothesis.

This Colosseum was not a post-war addition to Akihabara. It had been a part of this town since long before the world was restructured, and it was far too large an anomaly to be permitted to exist without a reason. And in ancient Rome, the battles that took place in the colosseums had been sacred acts; offerings made to the gods.

Heroic Spirits take on all of our thoughts, hopes and dreams. They draw power from them.

The greater the mark a Servant had left upon history, and the more fame they had earned, the more power they drew. Such was their nature – and as an unintended and tragic consequence, Servants were occasionally summoned with the strange and cruel skill, “Innocent Monster”.

How much of this do the Riedenflaus family realise, I wonder?

I couldn't help but wonder just to what extent thaumaturgical systems might be entwined with the structure of the Colosseum itself.

-

An unexpected voice called me to a halt.

“Erice, we need to talk. It's important.”

It was the first time I had seen Ms. Fujimura in several days. I wheeled around to find her standing in the dimly-lit outer hall, dressed like a librarian as always.

Why is she here? What could she possibly want to talk about?

I strode towards her, with the intention of grilling her on the events in Shibuya and Shinjuku.

-

As I opened my mouth, I heard an odd sound from the broadcast. As the camera focused on the Carthaginian flagship, the witch performing the commentary had yelped in shock. I spun around to look. Ms. Fujimura, too, focused on the screen.

What I saw defied comprehension.

Regardless of the fact that the enemy was still distant, Hannibal, the Carthaginian commander, whipped his blade from the sheath at his belt, and without a moment's hesitation thrust it deep into the chest of his second-in-command, El Cid.

“Gah!”

El Cid's face froze in an expression of disbelief. His Master rounded on Hannibal in his confusion. The Carthaginian pulled his bloodstained sword from his ally's chest, and without a care for the man's protests, swung his sword crosswise in a vicious slash.

Both El Cid and his master collapsed. Two heads flew from the boat, to splash down unceremoniously into the artificial sea.

[the-hidden-writer]

A Second Chance: Chapter 6

An Ace Attorney fanfic. Read on both AO3 and FF.net!

Summary: Miles learns the identity of his “dead” mother, and the aftermath of that revelation is a tricky one. Especially when his newfound little sister is trying to turn him into a spirit medium.

AKA Miles is a Fey. Miles also doesn’t really know how to family properly.

[Chapter 1] | [Chapter 2] | [Chapter 3] | [Chapter 4] | [Chapter 5]

Comments make my day! :D

The Cousin

“She did what?”

Maya felt like tugging her hair out as she paced around the couch, flapping her hands about as if doing so would fix all her problems. After her super abrupt phone call with Pearl, she’d practically ran to Phoenix to relay what happened. Long story short, it hadn’t gone well. 

“I don’t know, Nick! I just started telling her and then she ran off crying!”

Phoenix looked just as puzzled as she felt.

“Did you tell her gently?” He suggested, but by his accusatory tone of voice Maya was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

“I was excited, okay?!”

“Fine, fine…” Phoenix sighed, leaning back. “I get that.”

After a few seconds, Maya slumped onto the couch next to him. “No, you’re right,” she admitted, uncharacteristically quiet, “I should’ve been more sensitive.”

Phoenix opened his mouth to argue, but Maya cut him off.

“I should’ve realized it would be different for her.”

She honestly felt like she should have known, but she’d been so tied up in her own self-justified excitement that she’d failed to even think about what it would mean for Pearl, and for everyone else in general. 

“Wait,” said Phoenix, interrupting her thoughts, “why would it be different for her? She’s met Edgeworth before and she was fine with him. I know he can be a bit… intimidating, but still, I wouldn’t run away screaming.”

“Yeah, you wouldn’t.” Maya couldn’t help but laugh. 

Phoenix gave her an extremely pointed what’s-that-supposed-to-mean look.

“No, it’s just that…” Maya began awkwardly, before letting out a small sigh. It wasn’t a nice subject to talk about, but it had to be done. “Look, I’ve told you about how the village doesn’t have the best history with men, right?”

Phoenix nodded gravely. 

“Well,” she continued, trying to find the right words, “when we were young, Aunt Morgan liked to drill it into our heads that ‘all men tied to the Fey clan are evil’. If she ever caught us talking about them we’d get told off.” She paused, lost in the memories. It made sense why her aunt would think that, now that she knew about Dahlia and Iris. “Now I never really took any of her lectures to heart, but Pearly…”

“...she would cling onto those words for life.” Phoenix finished. “Yeah, I can see that.”

“I just don’t get it though!” Maya whined. “Like you said, she knows Edgeworth, it shouldn’t be such a big deal.”

Phoenix scratched his chin in thought. “Remember, she doesn’t know him as well as we do though, she’s still intimidated by him.”

“Yeah, who wouldn’t be.” She replied instinctively, before slowly turning her head to look Phoenix directly in the eyes. He gave her That Look again.

“Why not just take him over to Kurain so they can talk it out?” He suggested, after a few uncomfortable seconds. “He can get to see her properly, and Pearls can see that he’s a pretty cool dude. Kill two birds with one stone.”

“Nah, that won’t work.” Maya replied. “Aunt Morgan’s not the only one who has a thing against men, and suddenly bringing in Edgeworth and telling everyone he’s the master’s brother probably won’t end well.”

Maya noticed Phoenix’s wince but didn’t mention it. She’d paraded into Kurain Village with him by her side many times, and it’s true that some of the women had been… less than polite toward him.

“Well you can’t just leave it at that.” He said. “Miles is gonna want to speak to her eventually, and you don’t want her screaming as soon as she sees him.” “Yeah, I know, but I just don’t know how!” Maya huffed.

“I could talk to her?” He offered. 

“No way! If you do, she’ll think I sent you, and when she’s angry she will go to surprising lengths to avoid people.” Pearls had once climbed an entire mountain to avoid having a bath. It was not something to be taken lightly.

“So what you’re saying is, we have to fix this from far away. Great.” Phoenix groaned.

“Actually,” Maya jumped suddenly, her eyes lighting up, “that’s exactly what we need to do! And I have a plan of how we’re gonna do it.”

Phoenix cringed at Maya’s newfound determination. Maya’s plans tended to be quite dramatic, to say the least. They also happened to be really hard to talk her out of doing them.

“What are we going to do?” He asked unenthusiastically.

“If we want to get them to talk it out properly, we’re gonna need a secret weapon!”

“Secret weapon?” Phoenix asked, fear creeping into his voice.

Maya pushed him to one side, sprung up from the couch, darted across the room, and grabbed a notepad and pen. 

“Yeah! Trust me Nick, with this, Pearly and Edgeworth will be best friends by the end of the week!”

~._-_.~

“Hey pal! Over here!”

Detective Gumshoe waved frantically from the station platform at his target who was peeking at him behind the phone booth.

“M-Mr Detective!” Called Pearl Fey as she slowly made her way toward him, tugging at her robes.

Gumshoe noted that the poor girl’s eyes were puffy and swollen, and he guessed it was probably from rubbing them too much. Poor kid. At first he’d thought that Maya had been exaggerating about her being upset, but apparently not. 

It only made him more determined to complete his mission.

“Hey, sweetheart! A little birdie told me that you were feeling down, so you’re old pal Dick Gumshoe’s here to cheer you up!”

Pearl looked hesitant, and Gumshoe thought that he maybe shouldn’t have shouted so loud. He didn’t want to frighten her, after all.

“Are you the surprise Mystic Soma told me about?” She asked.

Gumshoe nodded with enthusiasm. “Uh huh! And I’ve planned a whole day of fun! Just you wait little missy, we’re gonna turn that frown upside down!” He demonstrated this using his own face and some strange noises to accompany them.

People had always told him he was good with kids, but he’d always replied by saying he was just doing his job as a friendly citizen. But as he watched Pearl’s nervous face crack open into a fit of giggles, before getting covered with her hands when she was overcome with embarrassment, he half-believed them.

After that, it wasn’t that hard to convince her to come with him, but they’d gone to double check with her guardians first. He already had permission but he needed an excuse to use up the time before the next train. He also managed to get a free cup of tea with it.

He was slightly concerned, when the train finally arrived, that Pearl was so confident in navigating it herself that she ran off inside without him. He was on a mission dammit, he couldn’t fail at the very start!

Truth is, when Maya and Phoenix first enlisted him for this task the day before, he hadn’t had much time to prepare and think things through. Luckily for him though, they already seemed to have things all planned out. He hadn’t hesitated in agreeing to it of course (especially once Maya so kindly offered that Phoenix could pay for the train tickets) but that didn’t mean he wasn’t nervous. There was a lot on the line.

All he could do was hope that it all worked out.

The train ride itself wasn’t anything special. He made sure to regularly ask Pearl a random question so she wouldn’t get bored, but toward the end they’d ended up bouncing up and down in their seats, singing the songs he’d taught her on the journey. The small handful of other passengers had sent them plenty of annoyed glares, but he was used to it and she didn’t seem to notice. They had fun and that was all that mattered. The fun didn’t stop there, though. 

Once they arrived, Gumshoe let Pearl sit in the passenger seat as he drove around the city. He wasn’t sure how much she’d already seen but thought a tour couldn’t hurt. 

He also didn’t have enough money to take her inside anywhere special, so a tour would have to do.

Pearl spent most of the time gazing out of the open window in awe. She was familiar with the streets around the courthouse, and the pair stopped for a moment outside to see if they could hear any heated arguments from inside. They obviously couldn’t, but it was fun nonetheless. 

He purposely avoided driving past Wright & Co Law Offices because he was supposed to be providing a distraction. 

Time passed surprisingly quickly, and it was a good few hours before he noticed Pearl start to fidget and wiggle around in her seat. Sighing, Gumshoe checked the time. 4:26pm. Almost time.

“Hey kid, wanna go to the park?”

Pearl looked up at him, brows furrowed in confusion. “What’s a park?”

It took every bit of effort in his bones to not slam down the break right then and there. Alas, this did mean that he couldn’t hide the look of abject horror on his face.

“You’ve never been to a park?” He asked incredulously. 

“I don’t think so?” Pearl replied, shuffling in her seat. “Maybe I have, but I don’t know what it is. I’m sorry.”

“Right, that’s it.” Gumshoe grit his teeth together and thrust his foot onto the gas. “We’re going to the park this second and you’re gonna get to play there if it's the last thing I do.”

He might’ve been speeding, probably was in hindsight, but whilst caught up in his determination he didn’t notice. Anyways, it was more important to let this little girl experience a park as soon as humanly possible. 

And oh, the look on Pearl’s face when they went inside the park. Her eyes shone with wonder, she jumped up to touch the leaves whenever they walked under a tree, and as soon as the play area came into view she tugged at his trenchcoat and pointed shyly.

“Can I go play there?”

“Knock yourself out!” He said instinctively, before hastily adding “I mean go play as much as you want, I’ll be over here. That’s just a way of speaking.” after Pearl’s jaw dropped in shock.

She really was a sheltered kid, huh.

He sat on the bench and watched her play for another hour. She was surprisingly agile, and she was scrambling across the jungle gyms meant for kids double her age. He almost had a heart attack when she bolted to the monkey bars and began to swing across them as good as any monkey, speeding past the other children leaving them gaping at her in amazement. Or maybe fear. He couldn’t speak for them, but he was definitely terrified of this nine-year-old.

When she eventually tired herself out, she joined him on the bench. Gumshoe thinks that in the few hours they’ve spent together, he’s just made a friend for life.

“Hey,” He leaned in close to her ear, and whispered: “wanna get some ice cream?”

“Yes please!” Pearl squealed, clapping her hands together happily; a stark contrast to the sad little girl he’d met at the station.

He bought her a vanilla cone covered top to bottom with rainbow sprinkles, and she asked him multiple times if it was actually edible and if she was the one meant to eat it. 

What he didn’t tell her was that he wasn’t going to have dinner that night, but one little girl’s happiness was well worth the price of one little meal. He was starting to get sick of instant noodles anyways.

While she was busy eating (her face scrunched up whenever she licked it because of the cold, and he found it absolutely adorable) Gumshoe kept on anxiously checking his watch. The face was cracked slightly, but he could still tell the time so it was all good. It was about 5:50pm, which meant that his target would appear any time now. He wasn’t sure where exactly, but he kept his eyes peeled.

After a heated debate with Pearl about how ice cream was made, he spotted him. He was sitting with his back to them on a bench on the other side of the playing field. He looked like any other stranger wearing a black coat from that distance, but Gumshoe’s eyes were trained to seek him out at all times. And there he was, right on schedule.

“Hey Pearl, wanna piggyback?” He asked once she’d finished her treat.

“Yeah!”

“Hop on!”

He stood up and bent down in front of the bench, which Pearl used as a boost to stand on before leaping onto his back. She was light, and even Gumshoe’s own nieces weighed twice as much as she did. He grinned.

“Ready? Here we GO!”

They ploughed through the playing field, whooping, and Pearl bounced up and down with each stride. When Gumshoe noticed their target standing up to leave, he forced himself to go even faster.

“MR EDGEWORTH SIR!”

Edgeworth’s head snapped in their direction and he dropped his briefcase in surprise. The man was positively shocked to see them, and Gumshoe felt a twinge of guilt for maybe/probably ruining his ‘much needed alone time’. 

“D-Detective?!”

“Um, Mr Gummy?” Pearl tugged at the collar of his coat. “Where are we going?”

She’d stopped cheering and now her voice sounded frightened. Gumshoe felt lucky that he couldn’t see her face right then, or he might’ve ended up abandoning the mission altogether.

“Just gonna go talk to a friend.” He replied, as cheerfully as he could. “He’s super cool, he’s the best guy I know!”

He felt the back of his collar get tugged again. “I d-don’t want to…”

Seeing as they were almost there, Gumshoe gradually slowed his pace to get his breath back.

“Don’t worry,” he huffed, “it’ll only be for a minute.”

“Detective, what are you doing here?” Edgeworth asked once they were close enough to not shout to be heard. Then his eyes settled on the young girl trying to hide behind Gumshoe’s scruffy mass of hair. 

“Pearls!” He said, eyes wide. Then, to Gumshoe in a stage whisper that sounded a lot more like a hiss of a snake: “Does she know?”

Gumshoe nodded happily. “‘Course she does! You know who Mr Edgeworth is, don’t you Pearly?” He felt her climb higher onto his back and guessed she was nodding.

Edgeworth’s eyes were unblinking and his lips were parted slightly as he stared at the girl on his back. Gumshoe had done his job, now he just had to wait and see if the mission was successful.

“Hello Pearls,” Edgeworth said hesitantly, extending every syllable. “How er-, how are you?”

Without warning, Gumshoe felt Pearl slide off his back in an instant and didn’t have time to process what was happening before she was charging toward Edgeworth, fist raised. She struck him in the stomach causing him to double over in pain.

“You abandoned Mystic Maya!” She shrieked, throwing another punch onto the already-winded Edgeworth.

“Watch out sir!” Gumshoe cried ten seconds too late.

“You left Mystic Maya all alone and she cried about her family and you didn’t help her!” Pearl shouted, still throwing punches. “And she trusted you!”

“I-I didn’t know- OOF” Edgeworth wheezed, before letting out a groan as his thigh was slapped particularly hard. Gumshoe desperately wanted to pull her off him, but wasn’t facing problems the best way to solve them? So he held back until she aimed for a nasty spot to punch, because then he hastily grabbed her and pulled her back.

Pearl was crying now. “You sh-should have been there for her!” She wailed.

“I’m sorry,” said Edgeworth while he regained his breath, “I am really sorry Pearl, but I honestly didn’t know. If I’d known then-”

He cut himself off and looked down in… shame? Gumshoe watched him in concern. He didn’t seem interested in finishing his point though and instead crouched down to her level.

“I didn’t know.” He repeated, gracefully pressing a hand against his heart. “But I promise that I’ll try to make it up to her. Will you allow me to do that?”

Pearl sniffed and rubbed her eyes. “Y-You really didn’t know?”

Edgeworth nodded slowly.

She brushed her tears away, all cried out, and grabbed onto Gumshoe’s coat. “Did your dad know?”

At first, Edgeworth huffed in disbelief, before his face softened. “Yes, I think he did. But he loved Maya, Mia and their mother very much and didn’t have a choice to leave them. He passed away when they were young, and didn’t get the chance to tell me.”

As far as Gumshoe knew, Edgeworth had no way of knowing any of what he’d just said. It also then occurred to him that he was a very good liar. Had he been lied to before without realizing it? 

They stood there in tense silence for a few moments, waiting for Pearl to react.

“You’re not lying?” She asked quietly. “No.”

Lie or not, it seemed to work, and all of a sudden she let go of her grip on his coat and darted towards Edgeworth, wrapping him tightly in a cuddle that looked like it was squeezing the life out of him.

“I-I’m sorry!” She wailed again from within his chest. “I thought you left on purpose! Mom said everyone leaves to hurt us and I thought you did as well and I’m sorry-”

As she rambled into his torso, Edgeworth was as stiff as a statue. His hands were frozen a few inches away from Pearl’s back. They were shaking, as if unsure whether to touch her or not. His eyes were pointed at Gumshoe, desperately begging for help, pleading for him to intervene and just say something, anything, but he didn’t. So he was just left to squat there awkwardly as a little girl cried into him.

Gumshoe watched on from the side, feeling a wave of pride wash over him. 

“Um, Pearl?” Said Edgeworth, once Pearl had finished her long apology. “Would you like to go and see Maya?”

Pearl shuffled away and turned to Gumshoe, who nodded gleefully. She looked back at Edgeworth and nodded.

“Right then.” He said, standing up and brushing himself off. “We’ll go to Wright’s office.”

“Mr Eh-ji-worth?”

“Yes, Pearls?”

“Please can I go with Mr Gummy in his car?”

Gumshoe smiled. Mission accomplished.

[johannesviii]

Very jumbled, mixed thoughts about Spyfall part 1 and 2 under the Read More.

Ok so first I’m writing this because I’m kinda hyped for this series but I’m also very very scared.

This is an extremely flawed opening that also takes a lot of risks and I tend to respect that more than good but bland stories, and it also made me want to talk about it, whereas my reaction to S11, apart from Demons of the Punjab and It Takes You Away, was basically “eh this is nice” followed by a shrug

Don’t get me wrong I love the fact that Thirteen exists but her character in S11 was a bit of an enigma for me, and now she has started to wander down some dark, dark paths

What I wanted from S12 was “more material for Yaz”, “an arc”, and “understand Thirteen as a character”. We certainly have an arc, so hurray for that. Yaz has more things to do but I want to see more. And Thirteen... more on that later

Ok so Spyfall

The idea of aliens that are technically portals is great. Their plan of conquest was meh and the resolution was underwhelming.

The tuxedos and the gadgets and stuff were great. Wanted to see more gadgets but eh. Thirteen in a tux on a bike was a wonderful sight. The scenes with the main companions were good.

Loved to see Ada Lovelace. And Noor Inayat Khan, who I knew nothing about, and I do have thoughts about her presence but more on that later.

And the Master is back.

Boy do I have thoughts about that too.

Ok so the actor is doing an amazing job and I loved when he was undercover and not particularly subtle about it and it still worked. Love that he has a TARDIS again, and the TCE. Wonderful stuff.

I have mixed thoughts about how aggressive he seems to be, yelling, killing people like it’s nothing, asking Thirteen to kneel and nearly choking her. On one hand he did way worse things to some older incarnations, and I certainly wouldn’t want to see the Master starting to see the Doctor as some sort of fragile thing now that the character is played by a woman. That would be pretty awful. On the other hand, we now have, in practice, a Master played by a man of color being very aggressive towards a Doctor played by a white woman and that has also some pretty awful connotations. I’m not even sure how that can be solved. I don’t even know how I’d handle it. I don’t know. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, that’s all.

I actually don’t mind the fact Missy’s character development has seemingly disappeared (wait and see). First, it’s not like it’s something new in the show ; I mean the Doctor’s incarnations contradict themselves all the time. Six’s whole thing was how he was learning to become more gentle and caring and then Seven becomes this master manipulator who tends to use his friends like assets.

Second, I’m not even sure this new Master has reverted to the status quo of “haha look how evil I am”. He certainly tries to but. like. Everytime he’s not threatening or killing people or talking about his evil plans, he looks really, really unsure of himself. In at least two scenes, he seems to be this close to bursting into tears (especially when Thirteen says his name and in his message about Gallifrey). Is he even enjoying being evil anymore? Doesn’t seem like he is. He’s doing some horrible shit in this story but it looks almost performative. Like when Missy killed a couple of UNIT people to prove to Clara she wasn’t “nice”.

He didn’t boast about destroying Gallifrey, either.

Heck, he couldn’t even say that to Thirteen’s face. He used a recording to say it. He didn’t even mention it before trying to kill her on the plane.

Speaking of which, I’m not mad Gallifrey has been destroyed again. Happens all the time in the extended universe anyway.

Very curious about this whole “lie” thing.

And now I have to talk about Thirteen

Where do I even f█cking start

Ok so. Either it’s written without much care or it’s written to send the character on a very sinister path, but I was baffled by some things Thirteen did in that story.

We already saw her do some debatable things in S11, especially at the end of Kerblam!. Which made me dislike that episode immensely, because I thought it was out of character for the Doctor to care that little about people being exploited and basically enslaved.

But maybe it was in character for Thirteen.

I mean we now have a Doctor who allies herself to two incredible women from history, basically uses them as assets, then erases their memories without permission and doesn’t even save the one who’s gonna die later?? Hello? Why even bring a real person into the plot if you’re not gonna treat her story with care? An imaginary spy would have been better, that’s just disrespectful

And then there’s Thirteen saying the Master using the Nazis to find her is “a new low even for him” even though she does the exact same thing to escape later and weaponises them to use them against him? It was one thing to make this fake message outing him as a spy, that part was actually clever, but removing his disguise to prove he’s a man of color in front of a bunch of armed racists?? And then leaving him stranded there?? Excuse me? Thirteen what the f█ck? Hello? Isn’t that a vile thing to do? Come back here immediately and explain yourself??

So yeah

I mean, I’m not against a main character doing really terrible things as long as it’s framed as bad. But this wasn’t. It was framed as a “HA take THAT” moment

Is anyone going to talk about that or are we just going to ignore it

idk it just left an awful taste in my mouth

Thirteen I don’t know what you’re doing but you’re walking on a very dark path and I’m not sure I want to follow you

TLDR: flawed story, characters doing extremely debatable things, intriguing arc. I’m really scared about the future but I still want to know what comes next. Bring it on

[narwulf]

Goodbye Missy (a Doctor Who Short Story)

Missy lay in the void. She could feel herself slowly fading away as her breathless body lay silent amongst the dying foliage of the forest by the elevator. Funny how things had turned out. All this time she had been running towards oblivion, running towards a never ending drumbeat and yet the moment she finally turned around to join her best friend, to do the right thing for once and perhaps to acknowledge that there might be some good in herself, it was then that her past threw her into the darkness. She was his end and he ended her. So funny. She wondered what would be next. 

Would he miss her? 

“Mind you, “ Missy thought to herself. “Not sure there is much chance of him getting out of this one alive. He’s dying and I’m not sure he wants to keep living anymore. A Timelord only lives if they choose to”.

Missy wondered why death was taking so long. It wasn’t as if she had enough energy to even begin to regenerate from the damage she had taken…. or perhaps the damage she had caused. She supposed that the two of them, being she and the Doctor, perhaps could never be the same; perhaps they were never equals. He had always acted as if he was special, acted as if he was some mystical adventurer who wanted to see and love everything and take anyone he could along for the ride. She supposed that was what his so-called ‘companions’ were for, or was it ‘friends’? She’d never had much experience of those. Thinking about it he was the only true friend she had ever really had, someone who had been there all this time. All she had ever wanted was for someone to notice her, to see her as someone greater, to see her as an equal and to be equal to her. She supposed that was why she had always wanted to win. To show that she could be just as good as him and just as special; and recognised for that. She guessed that maybe she never could win and that was why she was always running to oblivion; and he was always running away, but from what?

Suddenly she felt warm? How peculiar, this wasn’t how she imagined death. Wait, this wasn’t just warmth, it was energy. Maybe she could use it? Missy summoned what strength she had left and her form began to glow with a soft golden hum. Her chapter may be over but she wasn’t going to let the story end here, not now. She felt a tingling sensation all over as energy flowed through her cold veins. She had loved being Missy just as much as she loved her last incarnation but it was time to go.

Goodbye Missy.

All at once everything burned in an unintelligible, ear-splitting scream of light. The flames still rolled above and cybermen disintegrated as a new form blazed into existence. At last the smoke lifted to reveal the charred remains of the ash choked woods and the fizzing start of a newly regenerated Timelord. She, wait no he, staggered as he pulled himself up by the flaking branch of the tree he had held moments ago as his former self had shot her. What now? Who was he? Where was he? Oh wait, the Doctor. Where would he be? The Master knew that he couldn’t stay on that ship, although at that point he was unsure of who exactly he was. If the Doctor was still alive he would have to make an escape now. There would be no time for himself to find the Doctor. He needed to get back to his Tardis, too bad he couldn’t hitch a ride with his past self. A thought buzzed into the Master’s aching mind, still pulsating with energy. A ship like this likely didn’t have usable escape pods, otherwise they would have already been put to use, and then there was the black hole to factor into the equation. Wait… maybe? Perhaps, if he could make it down there, the Loading bay might have a supplies vessel he could take out to get some distance from the black hole so he could summon his tardis???? It would be a long shot considering the gravitational forces involved but it would be the only way to get anywhere near far enough away from the black hole to even begin to pilot his tardis with some accuracy, considering the warping effect the black hole would have on the artron stores if he tried to summon it from the Mondasian ship. He checked his boot, the layered fabric of the dress felt a bit bizarre now; not really his style anymore although the colour of the fabric was nice so perhaps he could reuse it to make a new coat? Ah there it was. He pulled out a small silver key from the heel of his shoe. Time for another escape act, something that had become a speciality of his over the millenia.

The plan, despite inevitably unforeseen obstacles, worked.  Now what? The Master's mind drifted back to the fate of the Doctor. He surmised the easiest way to find out what had happened to the Doctor would be a trip to the Matrix. There an answer was sure to be held. He released the hand brake and flicked the dematerialisation switches. Time to go home.

Eventually the Master reached Gallifrey and the chamber of the Matrix. It hadn’t been hard to make his way through the maze of corridors encapsulated in the Prydonian Chapter house and past the Chancellery guard to reach it, after all no one recognised this face. It wasn’t hard for him to hack into the Matrix either, it was a game. A brief search told him that the Doctor was alive and not only that but a woman now.

“Well, about time” he supposed.

The Master dug deeper, wondering how he should make his next big entrance; afterall he had never been one to say a simple hello. He laughed at the Doctor's misadventures, of which there had been many, and the reactions to previous greetings. He was lost in a sea of memories and was diving ever deeper until he stopped. Something was wrong, he’d reached the point that should have marked the start of the Doctor’s timeline but there was something wavering just beyond it. He ran his fingers along the console interface, whatever it was was strongly encapsulated in Psychic encryption. 

The world melted away as the Master broke down the data’s defences until at last, images of what appeared to be early to mid 20th century Ireland glitched into existence. The images, on their own, seemed nothing out of the ordinary but where did they fit into the puzzle? They could have come from anywhere but there had to be a reason for them to be here. As a character, Brendan just seemed to be another boring, little human, holding no connection to the Doctor par for a... police facade.  Who would be so paranoid as to conceal information in this manner? Again the Master skimmed his hands over the Console Interface, breaking down the encrypted battlements and wiping away the mask. He was at last faced with new images, of which he recognised. He drove through the remnants of history and the roots of lies. They had betrayed them all. His insides felt heavy and nauseous. What had they done to her and why had they lied? It was no wonder that he had always betrayed the Doctor, it seemed to be the only thing his species was good at. There was nothing noble about the creation of the Timelords; regeneration was a stolen gift. Of course she always acted if she was special, it was sickening. 

Once again the Master was blinded by hurt to any beauty present in the Universe. He desperately tried to uncover the rest. He tried every method he could think of, but nothing. Vast swathes of the Matrix remained empty and curdled. The Master broke down and screamed. Why couldn’t the Doctor just be like him? Why was he always defined by her and made lesser? Why should the betrayal ever stop?

An idea flicked into the Master’s mind and burned. Everything in his mind burned and screamed as it always had and the rage felt endless. The Master had a plan. He grimaced. 

This was going to be a lot of fun.

[Thanks for reading :) Please feel free to offer constructive criticism. This story is basically an interpretation of what the Master’s timeline between S10 E13 and S12 E1 might have been. My knowledge of DW lore isn’t that great so I don’t know how well this matches up with cannon but, let’s be honest, DW cannon is a bit wibbly wobbly anyway. Thanks again and have a nice day :) ]

[bisexualterror]

noor: i'm very curious, very interested, bc like i haven't started the series it's on my to-see list 👀 and what little i read was hargreeves oc's who got paired with a sibling and that kinda weirded me out of watching it yet 😬 absorbs light hmm she's her own lil sun? her siblings lil sun? 🥺

nova: i love her, gimme more witches stories on the tvd verse khsjdjfb i can't wait to see her when the plot really starts to kick in, another win for the bennett coven who the actual series didn't seem to give a sh*t about 😤 and i saw an ask about sheila living i could cry hhhHHhHh all the adults dying, someone give this kids therapy 😶

marsilia: i lover her already, it's the first time i see a zabini oc, pls spare more mars lore ���� ksjsjdjf also love the nickname, mars, it's cute 💖 we also get to see more about blaise as character too! ALSO you know that whole can't remember if it was canon or fanon blaise's mom being a "black widow" or a this totally fanon mafia donna so yes can't wait to see this zabini family 😌 aAnNdD oh. my. stars. my brain just caught up she's gonna be same year with astoria, luna and ginny KSHDJSKDHD

altheia: omg 🥺🥺🥺 a doctor who oc 💖 who isn't linked with the doctor from the beginning kaksksldj like i love him but give me more oc's with their own backgrounds who don't immediately drop everything to be with him and stuff pls & tenk u 😔 lsjhskfif i thot u were gonna say theia IS missy's childe omg who is she? are her family or/and the master's important to be arranging marriages to each other? or will that be just a gallifreyan thing? what happens to her when looking into the untempered schism? how does she fare during the war? will she live to be around during the new who timeline orrrr?? ajlajshdofn sorry it's just omg 😭

OOOok sdndskjd so

noor: that’s vv fair, it’s probably because of the whole allison and luther sibling thing is canon in the show, they don’t do anything really romantic imo, it doesn’t go anywhere and honestly it seems like they just latched onto each other platonically as kids and might have misinterpreted as romantic cause they were isolated from other kids and didn’t have anyone other than each other n their other siblings??? anyway that’s how i watched it, but i 100% understand why it would put you off. but still i love these chaotic siblings svm and YES omg her siblings sun 😭😭

nova: mood, it’s part of why i created her, i love witches so much :D also ME TOO, i wanna write season three so BADly, i have so many plans for her you’re hopefully gonna love. and yeah, honestly i could rant on the injustice they gave the bennett coven but the one i hated the most was that most of them were used by other people and to further the plot and then died 😔 ND tell me about it!! we never saw bonnie’s home life but we can all take a guess and say that grams was the one who was there for her and ELENA LOST TWO SETS OF PARENTS AND THEN ALARIC FOR A BIT.  they need milk, cookies and therapy. (but also like bitch, me too tf)

marsilia: 

djsjkjlkds ok so the main reason why i created marsilia was because i wanted to write more on blaise’s mom but lol i just had to make an oc too. there was def rumors in canon i THink of her killing all of her husbands cause they kept dying without any explanation and i wanna have fun with that, so yeah, thats gonna be fun :D also YES, i honestly just wanted to not have to rewrite every book/movie so i had her a year younger than blaise lisjlksjs but yes, she’s gonna be friends with both greengrass sisters, luna and eventually ginny (though she has a rocky start with everyone but luna XD)

altheia:  i love him too, A LOt, like so much, but yeah.....i prefer to know who my ocs are outside of their SO, esp with characters like the doctor, who can kinda be all encompassing. kjhkjdhkhsd thats what i thought it was gonna sound like after i wrote it LMAO but ye theia stays on gallifrey with her daughter when the master and the doctor leave. (damn did i just give ANOther oc my abandonment issues??)

just for a few decades so her daughter, cosima, can finish her education and then al says peace out, leaves in the dead of night to steal a tardis and travels with her daughter on her own for a few more decades that will probably pass by in like two chapters.

cosima is an odd mix of her parents, very intelligent and sweet but also super scary when angry skljslakjaslk their families are kind of important, at least they think so, but also it’s just a thing i wrote that’s normal for gallifrey.

ok so it’s kind in the WORks cause i need to figure out the side affects and the HOW part but when baby altheia looks into the schism, an alternate older version of herself, fresh from war, gets dragged into her conscience. IWONDEr WHO IT Was THAT DID THat? (it was the time lords, breaking their rules so they could groom altheia to help them in the war)

she has.... a rough time in the war, looses pretty much all of her family (cosima is ok though!!), might bring her brother abacus back cause i... can’t bare to kill him off permanently...  she WILL before around new who, i haven’t finished watching the classics so this is how i have her arks planned out:

first i’m gonna focus on gallifrey era for maybe 25 chapters and then i’m going to do like maybe four adventures of her with her daughter spanning those decades, the war i’m going to skip completely other then how she gets out of it, and then she’ll... be alone for half a chapter before reuniting with the ninth doctor (he thinks she’s dead... ) and from there i’ll probably just write her into the episodes i want, skipping some that i don’t want to rewrite, and stop whenever i get tired i guess (i do have an end in mind i just don’t know which season it’s gonna be in) cause i doubt this show is ever gonna end lsjalkLMAO